Employers See an End to Remote Work

It’s hardly a revelation that many CEOs want their employees back in the office. Workers, though, have been resistant to those demands.

That’s not having much of an impact on employer outlooks, though. KPMG’s 2023 U.S. CEO Outlook survey found that 62% of the 400 CEOs it spoke with believed their workers would be back in the office within the next three years. That’s up considerably from the 34% who believed that last year.

Underlining the change in thinking was the percentage of CEOs who envision a fully remote work environment. Just 4% felt that way this year, versus 20% in 2022.

Here’s the good news for workers: Bosses are willing to pay them more to come back to the office. An overwhelming 90% of those surveyed by KPMG said they will reward employees who make an effort to come into the office with favorable assignments, raises or promotions. Just 1% said they were unlikely to do so.

“Talent and culture are more important than ever in this fast-changing business environment in which multiple organizational redesigns are the norm and workforce expectations are shifting when it comes to flexibility and purpose,” said KPMG’s Paul Knopp. “CEOs must foster an ethical culture that embraces change, innovation and smart risk-taking to drive growth; invest in continuously upskilling their people; and protect them from burnout. CEOs want more workers to come into the office and will reward those who do – but need to communicate expectations clearly to build trust.”

Rewarding employees who are physically present can be viewed in either of two ways. From one perspective, it’s a way to incentivize workers to struggle through the annoyance of commuting and giving up some of the flexibility they’ve gotten used to in the past several years for broader financial gain. From another, though, it could be seen as companies leaning in to proximity bias, the tendency for employers to give preferential treatment or show favoritism to the employees physically closest to them.

Proximity bias has been a growing concern for workers' rights advocates. A 2022 survey of 10,000 workers by Future Forum, a research consortium created by Slack, found more than 40% of executives felt inequities (and potential inequities) between remote and in-person employees was a top concern. And another survey, conducted in 2021 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) spoke with over 800 supervisors, and found two-thirds who oversaw remote workers saying they believed remote workers were more replaceable than onsite workers.

KPMG cautions companies that are pushing hard to get workers back to tread carefully. And many CEOs themselves backed that thinking up.

"As a global workforce solutions provider, the biggest challenge we face is meeting the demands of a growing and diversifying labor force," said Janette Marx, CEO of Airswift.

Return to office strategies can’t be “one size fits all” affairs, the management group added. Before they’re implemented, companies need to have a deep understanding of their employees’ dynamics—and any impediment they will face in trying to comply.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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