Should the Technology Industry Return to the Office?

It is no secret that digital transformation is taking the working world by storm, with disruptive technologies like AI evolving rapidly. However, it is important to remember that these changes are impacting the structure of companies too.

The technology industry felt a massive shift, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as it now grapples with new tools and strategies to optimise its services and improve customer experience.

This is also the case with working culture as, according to Flex Index, the nature of flexible working arrangements continues to change within the sector. The organisation’s 2024 report finds that 79% of technology companies are now fully flexible, which is up from 75% in June 2023. 

This news comes in the midst of an ongoing debate over return to office (RTO) mandates for workers, with some employees believing that these mandates are a significant source of conflict within the working world. 

Office working versus fully remote

As a result of the pandemic, work and personal lives were blurred - with technology to thank for keeping organisations running in a remote capacity. Now, in the wake of lockdowns, technology businesses are still debating with their workforces over which working pattern is the most effective for productivity.

Plenty of industry giants like Dell Technologies and Google have attempted to enforce RTO mandates, but these were met with backlash from within their workforce. Likewise, Google, Salesforce and Amazon have also been very public about wanting their employees to return to the office. 

“We find experienced employees impacted by these policies at major tech companies seek work elsewhere, taking some of the most valuable human capital investments and tools of productivity with them,” Austin Wright of the University of Chicago told The Washington Post in May 2024. 

“Business leaders should weigh carefully employee preferences and market opportunities when deciding when, or if, they mandate a return to office.”

There are both positives and negatives to a fully remote working environment or hybrid or full-time office working patterns. Whilst working permanently from home could impede a worker’s ability to ‘switch off’ at the end of the day, an office environment may not suit workers who have children or negatively impact work-life balance and could contribute to burnout.

Whilst it may look like the technology industry is moving further and further away from the office, Flex Index finds that the world of work continues to change.

In June 2023, 38% of Tech firms were Employee’s Choice, meaning the company has offices but employees are not required to go into them. In addition to this, 37% of firms were Fully Remote, meaning the company did not have offices at all.

This year, however, 56% of Tech firms are Employee’s Choice, which is a stark increase over a 12 month period. Likewise, 23% of firms are fully remote - a figure which has decreased over the same period.

By contrast, only 18% of firms are employing a “structured hybrid model” whereby they mandate which days their workers must attend the office.

Businesses are moving towards balance

The findings by Flex Index suggest that, whilst technology companies aren’t moving away from flexible working patterns, they are increasingly investing in having offices. This could be because business leaders want to recognise the value in having a regular communal space for employees to connect in person, even if they do not have mandated office days.

However, larger technology organisations have advocated very strongly for their workers to come into the office. On average, according to the report, companies with more than 500 employees have migrated to a more Structured Hybrid model over the past 12 months and away from Fully Flexible model. This could mean a certain number of days in the office each week, with 2-3 days being the most common.

This doesn’t mean the larger companies are pushing for a full-time return to the office. In fact, just 3% of those surveyed in the report require Full Time in Office, particularly when considering technology firms with more than 25k employees.

Such a monumental shift indicates that businesses are starting to prioritise the balance between employee preference and business requirements. Gartner already found in May 2024 that nearly two-thirds of employees find they work best in a remote environment.

Likewise, the firm found that high-performing employees reported a 16% lower intent to stay in the face of on-site work requirements. 

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