经理不知所措. He had four top-performing employees who continued to ignore management’s three-days-a-week in-office rule. 而不是, the employees typically appeared twice a week—except during family trips, when they appeared on Zoom screens framed by beaches or amusement parks. He was in a tight spot: he didn’t want to discipline his top performers, but he also couldn’t continue to enforce the rule inequitably.
这个难题正在全国各地的高管层酝酿. Organizations are calling workers back to the office this September and facing steep resistance, much of it in the form of employees creatively dodging in-office days. The latest monthly Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes finds that employers are now mandating an average of 2.8 days in-office per week, while employees say they want to come in just 1.每周6天. This gap, experts say, has created an enforcement issue at a level most managers rarely see. “Employees are skirting required in-office days in all sorts of ways," says 伊莉斯弗里德曼, leader of 最新太阳城官网’s 劳动力转换 practice. “这是一场拔河比赛.”
当然, some employees are following in-office mandates to the letter—realizing that US employers can, 在很大程度上, 在法律上强迫员工在他们的大楼里工作. Though the survey shows that work-from-home days are declining—down from 37% of all days in January 2021 to 31% in July 2022—experts say that employees’ actual compliance with the rules has a lot to do with their other work opportunities. “If the four major companies you can work for say to come back, you’re going to come back,” says 丹·卡普兰, senior client partner in the CHRO practice at 最新太阳城官网.
政府的政策和规定因行业而异. 根据调查, 哪一个超过2个,500名工人, information and technology workers lead all industries in remote work, 日志平均为2.每周在家呆68天. 金融和保险专业人士日志2.23 days at home, and professional and business services workers log 2.02天. That’s 30% to 70% more than employees in nine other fields, 包括政府, 公用事业公司, 医疗保健, manufacturing and retail trade—the last of whose workers average just .每周在家68天.
这些平均值大大低于公司的要求, 随着夏季的结束，这个月急剧上升. 但执行不力或不明确, HR officials say workers can employ some amusingly sly strategies to limit in-office days, including limiting days at the office to 10 am to 2 pm (few companies formally define the length of an in-office day), and scheduling conferences and off-site meetings for in-office days. Others call in sick or schedule vacation days during in-office time. 最厚颜无耻的是，有些人干脆在家工作. “Companies are trying to change the laws of physics as they pertain to dealing with workers,” says 大卫竞争, global sector leader for the 医疗仪器及诊断 practice at 最新太阳城官网. He notes that both the Great Resignation and workers ignoring mandates are bottom-up movements, while enforcing an RTO mandate is a top-down edict that flows against the tide.
Experts say that organizations must decide whether these new mandates will—or can be—enforced. Tracking employee whereabouts is feasible for managers with easy access to dashboards that register employee-computer login locations. “But if HR departments are too strict on this, I think employees will seek out other options,” says 利兹·谢弗, practice leader for the professional search division at 最新太阳城官网. “领导者和首席执行官都遇到了这个问题.她建议采取软性策略, like making office days notably different and more pleasant than days at home in front of a screen, 有意义的团队经验和合作.
在推进授权之前, 弗里德曼建议，企业也要提出“为什么”,” so that employees understand why coming in is advantageous to them and their teams. “Employees are very good at avoiding rules they don’t feel are beneficial or worthwhile,” she says. “如果组织不推销‘为什么’,’ it will continue to be a tug of war with an uncertain outcome.”
