COMP NEWS – An overwhelming majority of workplace leaders and executives believe that financial rewards and promotion opportunities will be linked to in-office attendance in the next few years, signaling a new strategy for minimizing hybrid work schedules that have become popular with employees but resented by many executives since the pandemic.

Nearly two-thirds of bosses believe that workers will return to the office five days a week within the next three years, while a majority of company leaders think pay and promotions could become linked to workplace attendance, according to a survey.

Despite the widespread adoption of hybrid working by most office-based employers since the pandemic, the KPMG CEO Outlook survey found 64% of leaders globally, and 63% of those in the UK, predicted a full return to in-office working by 2026.

The annual poll – which surveyed more than 1,300 chief executives of the world’s largest businesses, of whom 150 are in the UK – suggested many executives were increasingly supportive of returning to pre-Covid ways of working, more than three years after the pandemic forced office-based employees to carry out their roles from home.

In addition, the survey showed an overwhelming majority (87%) of global leaders, and 83% of UK executives, believed that financial rewards and promotion opportunities could be linked in future to office attendance.

One law firm leader cautions that companies must think about the consequences, especially the legal ones, of forcing employees back into different working schedules and locations.

Tina Chander, the head of employment law at the law firm Wright Hassall, said chief executives needed to be aware of the legal considerations of asking staff to return to the office full-time, and treat all workers fairly to avoid discrimination claims.

“Suddenly asking employees who have been working from home since March 2020 to come back to the office full-time can raise concerns about their employment terms and fairness. They could argue that working remotely has become an unwritten part of their job.”

Chander said offering financial rewards or promotions as incentives for office attendance could be “tempting” for bosses, and would not be illegal, but warned it came “with risks”.

“Relying too heavily on physical office presence might mean missing out on recognising the talents of remote workers and could lead to those valuable employees seeking opportunities elsewhere,” she said.

To read more about the survey, click here.

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