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Good news for those hoping to cling on to working from home: After a year of cracking down with rigid return-to-office mandates\u2014and instilling fear in those who upheaved their life during the pandemic\u2014defeated CEOs are now finally accepting that hybrid working is here to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
KPMG<\/a> surveyed U.S. CEOs of companies turning over at least $500 million and found that just one-third expect a full return to the office<\/a> in the next three years.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s official: Leaders who believe that office workers will be back at their desks five days a week in the near future are now in the small minority.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a complete 360 on their stance last year, when 62% of CEOs that KPMG surveyed predicted that working from home would end by 2026.<\/a><\/p>\n At the time, 90% of CEOs even admitted that they were so steadfast on summoning staff back to their vertical towers that they were sweetening with salary raises, promotions and favorable assignments to those who showed face more.<\/p>\n But now, bosses are backtracking: Nearly half of CEOs have concluded that the future of work is hybrid\u2014up from 34% last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s more a sizeable chunk of CEOs aren\u2019t just embracing working from home on Fridays, they\u2019re going one step further and ditching the workday altogether.<\/p>\n KPMG found that a third of CEOs are exploring the feasibility of a four-day week at their firm.<\/p>\n Many CEOs have dedicated the last year to shaking off pandemic-era habits of working from home and calling staff back to the office, but their mandates have been met with resistance.<\/p>\n Deutsche Bank\u2019s decision to outright ban staff from working at home on a Friday<\/a> and the following Monday has not been taken lightly by staff\u2014a large number of its 90,000-strong workforce have reportedly started posting critical remarks<\/a> on the company\u2019s internal messaging board to make their distaste for new the set-up known.<\/p>\n Amazon<\/a> is perhaps the most documented example of how ugly the RTO battle can get: Around 30,000 employees signed a petition<\/a> protesting the company\u2019s in-office mandate, before walking off from their jobs<\/a> to take a stand.<\/p>\n Research has echoed<\/a> that nearly half of companies with return-to-office mandates witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated, and 29% of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment.<\/p>\n It perhaps explains why, as KPMG\u2019s data shows, CEOs are now waking up to the fact that the future of work is probably the happy medium of hybrid.<\/p>\n \u201cCEOs have realized that forcing people back into the office can only go on for so long,\u201d Amrit Sandhar, CEO of &Evolve an employee engagement consultancy tells Fortune.<\/em> <\/p>\n \u201cWith Gen Z over the next few years making up in some cases, the majority of the workforce, how long can CEOs insist people come into the office, when people are choosing to work remotely?<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at the threshold of a new dawn and trying to hold on to past mindsets will have a direct impact on the caliber of people you attract going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis Maleh, CEO of the global executive recruitment agency Bentley Lewis, has already witnessed a U-turn to more flexible job ads.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve noticed a definite rise in job postings advertising remote or hybrid work,\u201d\u00a0 Maleh tells Fortune<\/em>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t worked on any searches that require the candidate to be in the office 5 days per week in the past 6 months globally.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe shift demonstrates the cementing of hybrid work models, as CEOs increasingly recognize flexibility as a key factor in attracting and retaining top talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy the change of heart?<\/h2>\n
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