Towards the end of the work in the presence

The pandemic has created many "firsts" on the planet. One of these is the largest social experiment in history on remote work. It has revolutionized the way we work and expect to work in the future.

The organizational return to office life is leading to a new chapter in this exciting "novel" involving employees and employers. The next trend is to combine the flexibility of remote work with that of on-site work. This is still a nascent phase, while in 2022 the number of workers who will return to the workplace at least partially every week will increase.

A major Gallup study tells us a lot. First and foremost: Back to the office and long-term remote work strategy will require a clear understanding of how companies are structuring the flexibility of remote work and what works best for employees.

Here are the key points of the study, which closely observes the US "case", but with numbers very similar to those of large European cities and employees of technology companies.

Currently about 56% of full-time employees (in the US we are talking about 70 million workers) can do their work remotely. Of the workers with remote skills, currently: 50% work in hybrid mode (partly at home, partly on site). 30% work exclusively remotely. 20% work exclusively in presence.

If we talk about perspectives, the picture changes dramatically. Hybrid work has already increased this year from 42% in February to 50% in June. And it is expected to increase further in the next semester, up to 55% of workers with remote skills. This is very close to that of workers' expectations: 60% of them, in fact, want a long-term hybrid employment agreement.

While 34% of workers would like to work entirely from home, remote work arrangements will drop to 20% within the next year.

It was clear, we told each other several times, that the Covid Tsunami would not leave the world as it found it. This is especially true when it comes to remote work. In fact, all remote labor agreements will triple compared to 2019 figures. And that's still not enough.

Either way, this back-to-office phase has a clear message for us: full on-site work will remain a relic of the past.

Only 6% of the workforce, in fact, wants a future in which the work will be completely and only in the presence. A total revolution (even more evident at a glance by looking at the graph below). 63 million people who have a firm intention change things radically.