Despite increasing pressure on marketers to return to work, more than half recognize the importance of hybrid working.
As many big-name brands decide to spend more days at work, Marketing Week's research reveals that this office-bound approach is not welcomed by everyone.
A quarter (24%) of the more than 3,000 marketers who responded to the 2024 Career & Salary Survey said they felt pressured to return to the office. This number is significantly higher for female marketers (27.6%) compared to male marketers (17.5%).
A quarter of Gen Z (25.6%) and Gen Y (25.9%) marketers also feel pressure to return, although this is less pronounced among their more senior Gen X (16.8%) colleagues. there is no.
More than half (52.3%) of marketers say flexible/hybrid working is very important to them, yet there is pressure to return to the office. In fact, almost a fifth (15.1%) say they are considering changing jobs for flexible working.
More than half of marketers say remote work has hurt relationships
The debate about how to create a hybrid workplace continues to rage.
In March, Boots told the company's 3,900 employees to work in the office five days a week starting in September. This follows Nationwide's decision in December to require its teams to be in the office at least two days a week, and Amazon's decision to require its teams to come to the office at least three days a week. I'm going to block your promotion.
In March, news broke that tech giant Dell was insisting that employees seeking promotions would be classified as hybrid workers and would need to be in the office at least three days a week.
This shift to workplaces is also happening within the government sector, with the Land Registry reportedly forcing staff back into offices to cope with increased demand.
Comments posted on the above organization's recruitment website Glassdoor demonstrate the level of employee dissatisfaction. Some staff say their return to the office is being forced on them with “no metrics” to demonstrate improved productivity.
Some argue that the change to hybrid work has had a negative impact on working parents, and that requests should be tailored to the needs of the team rather than a one-size-fits-all number of days. Some employees have criticized leadership for “constantly pushing” to increase attendance, even though output is higher than before the coronavirus.
In some organizations, there is a tension between the demands of the company and the aspirations of employees, as evidenced by the Career and Salary Survey statistics.
We publish an in-depth analysis that looks at data disaggregated by company size and seniority to explore how marketers can cope with the pressure of returning to the office.
Marketing Week has published a series of exclusive news and features based on the findings of our 2024 Careers and Salaries survey, including the impact of skills gaps and ageism in marketing. Click here to see all the content we've published so far.
