Recruiters have received a surge in job applications from disgruntled workers at companies that are removing employees’ flexibility over where they work after a flurry of return-to-office mandates were issued by large companies.
Two-thirds of recruiters have seen an increase in applicants looking for new jobs who are working at companies that are mandating five days a week in the office, according to a survey.
In addition, three-quarters of recruiters said they had seen candidates turn down new roles that did not offer hybrid working, according to the survey of 500 in-house and agency recruiters, conducted in November for the flexible workspace provider International Workspace Group (IWG).
Similarly, 72% of surveyed recruiters said companies that do not offer hybrid working are becoming less competitive in the job market.
The research comes amid the latest battle between employers and office-based employees over where they carry out their work after the explosion in home working caused by the Covid pandemic. A range of large employers have tightened up their rules on remote working in recent months.
Underlining the unpopularity of some of these measures, in one of the more extreme employee reactions, the Guardian revealed last week that staff at the online lender Starling Bank had resigned after its new chief executive called thousands of workers back to their desks.
All hybrid staff, many of whom previously attended for one or two days a week, were told by the boss, Raman Bhatia, to be at their desks for a minimum of 10 days each month, despite not having enough space to accommodate them all.
Starling is joined by the grocery chain Asda, the accountant PwC, and the Spanish-owned bank Santander in clamping down on remote working. The strictest mandates have been issued by the online retail company, Amazon, which has called its staff back to the office full-time from January.
The US technology company Dell has also ordered all its global sales team members to work permanently in the office.
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The IWG study did not specify which companies the employees hope to depart owing to stricter remote working policies.
Many organisational leaders have praised the collaboration and creativity sparked by bringing employees together in offices, whereas many employees appear to have grown accustomed to being able to choose where they carry out their work.
More than a third (36%) of white collar workers in roles requiring five-day office attendance said their employer was risking losing its best talent, according to separate research by IWG. Almost half (46%) of these 1,000 workers, surveyed in September, said they were actively looking for a new job that did not require a long daily commute.
Mark Dixon, the chief executive of IWG, said: “Flexible working offers further benefits to businesses beyond employee retention. The hybrid model is proven to boost workforce productivity and job satisfaction while also cutting costs significantly.”
The requirement for more office attendance comes despite warnings from some economists, including Stanford University professor, Nicholas Bloom, that it could unleash a wave of staff departures. Bloom has predicted that some return to office mandates will be repealed next year, if there is an exodus of talent.
