Tracey Keevans

So Morgan McKinley's research showed that there was a notable productivity gap between how employers and employees are perceiving the in-office presence.

So it found that 14% of employers believed that a full return to office would increase productivity, but 60% cited unemployment.

of employees cited that lower levels of productivity.

So it had a negative impact of being in the office.

So, you know, really the research found that while hybrid working has more or less stabilized in the financial services sector and wider sectors,

Our research showed that employers are still risking, you know, things like damaging the retention or the productivity and well-being of their employees if those return to work policies become too rigid.

And that that is exactly it.

The employers, the very strong feedback from employers through the survey was that they felt the advantages to this was fostering collaboration culture, which employees in the main agreed with.

And they felt that it would enable the younger cohort of workers to learn by osmosis or benefit from some of the robust mentorship programs that they had.

in situ.

However, what it isn't taking into account is the dissatisfaction with employees on the cost of this.

So obviously reduced or increased fuel costs and increased commuting time.

70% of the employee service said that they would need higher pay to offset this because they see this return to office

as having a real impact on their take-home pay, with the majority saying they felt they thought they were taking a pay cut.

And that was the majority feedback from more than 60% of employees did speak to that burnout.

That burnout was higher in the female cohort of respondents than it was in the male.

And it came back to, in terms of the lower represented salary brackets, 36% were earning the 30% to 50% versus 21% of male, and they were more likely to carry the caregiving responsibilities, again, 51% versus 45%.

in it and that was resulting in a real level of burnout.

The commute associated with it, the inflexibility of it and the stress that it was carrying in terms of managing a longer commute time in some cases and doing that on a lesser perceived reduced salary as a result of the increased costs of that commute.

And yes, that was certainly viewed by, and again, some employers were more strong on this in recognition of it.