In the current competitive workplace, employees are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves and leave a lasting impression and that’s one of the reasons why the term ‘office peacocking’ has acquired popularity recently.
It encompasses a range of behaviours aimed at signalling status or competence in the workplace. This may involve dressing in designer clothing, accessorising luxury items, displaying extravagant decorations in the workspace, or engaging in conspicuous behaviours to draw attention.
Data from Owl Labs’ 2023 State of Hybrid Work report offers a clever picture of the 2024 on-site, hybrid, and remote working landscape. The current workplace has led to the birth of many terms and trends to describe the state of affairs.
Major companies have forced return-to-office (RTO) mandates and switched positions after employee pushback. That pushback resulted in some companies implementing work-from-anywhere policies—leading to a four-day workweek that increased productivity and reduced turnover.
Some of these fads, like “office peacocking,” where businesses entice workers back to the workplace with opulent décor, fully equipped kitchens, and cosy couches, are so prevalent that it’s hard to keep up with them. Although the practice has been common for some time, Owl Labs CEO Frank Weishaupt claims that in 2024 it will be growing once more.
Weishaupt says, “Despite our data showing that many employees will make sacrifices to achieve flexibility in where they work, as 62% would take a pay cut of 10% or more to remain hybrid,” the pandemic has now been in place for four years. Many employers haven’t given up on trying to return to pre-pandemic policies.
Nevertheless, research from Owl Labs indicates that 2023 was the year that workers returned to the workplace. Of those surveyed, 66% claim to work full-time in an office; only 22% say they would like to.
Additionally, business travel has begun to resume at “normal” levels, according to 54% of employees, who said that pre-pandemic levels had been reached. However, there are still unnoticed patterns that show staff opposition to RTO requirements. Are workers genuinely returning? Or is that trend a figment of their desperate attempts to achieve the desired work-life balance?
Coffee badging, shadow policies, and the rise of poly-working
Weishaupt discusses the emergence of certain hidden trends, such as coffee badging, which involves hopping by the office for a short coffee and then heading out.
Over 58% of hybrid employees have “coffee badgered,” and 8% claim they haven’t yet but would like to try. Then there are “shadow policies,” which occur when specific supervisors permit some staff members to work from home despite the official business policy requiring them to remain in the office.
And that’s not all. Weishaupt quotes workers searching for ways out of the manufactured confines of “office peacocking.” The trend of job sharing and side gigs is returning. 68% of workers work full-time in offices, and over half have at least one “side hustle” or second job in addition to their primary full-time employment.
A growing number of people are also adopting the idea of “polyworking,” which refers to working two or more jobs, and “calling in healthy,” which is the habit of continuing to work when unwell to use that time off for enjoyable or restful activities on days when you’re feeling well.
Rethinking the return to the office: Insights from workplace trends and employee preferences
“Think it’s a remote thing?” Wishaupt asks. “Think again.” Compared to remote and hybrid workers, full-time office workers are more than twice as likely to hold another employment. He maintains that these patterns demonstrate why return-to-work regulations are an ineffective strategy for encouraging people to go back to work.
“They clearly don’t work,” he insists. “In Owl Labs’ most recent report, we even found that one in three workers (31%) said they would start to look for a new job if their employer mandated them to return to the office.”
Weishaupt notes that although having a beautiful workspace is wonderful, Owl’s research revealed the factors that hybrid employees value most when it comes to going back to work.
“The top three priorities for companies are paying for commuting expenses (38%), having a way to know when people they want to see will be there (33%), and having more privacy at work (e.g., dedicated offices, more phone booths) (34%).” Additionally, one in four employees (24%) stated they would be more inclined to show up for work if they could wear anything they chose. This suggests that it could be a smart idea to do away with the dress code.
A few more report findings provide light on some of these intriguing terms:
Of the workforce, 42% would seek employment elsewhere if they were not allowed to work in a remote or hybrid workplace.
90% of hybrid workers report feeling just as productive, if not more when working in a hybrid manner.
According to 79% of managers, their team produces more when they work remotely or hybridly.
Bridging the gap: Challenges and solutions in workplace flexibility
Employees who were trying to determine if working from home or in the office suited their working style better hit a significant roadblock recently. The results of the 2024 Workplace Flexibility Trends Report were made public and indicate that while most firms have accepted the idea of changing “where” employees work, many have not implemented the necessary new procedures. Almost three out of four employees claim that their company has not provided managers with the necessary training to effectively lead a distributed team, set up team or meeting conventions, or implement best practices to facilitate remote work.
Wendy Hamilton, CEO of TechSmith, said, “Unfortunately, some businesses are reverting back to in-office because they haven’t committed to meeting the needs of a flexible workforce.”
Organisations must instead rethink their IT stacks, collaboration strategies, and meeting procedures. Employee engagement, recruiting, and productivity will all suffer if you decide to invest in flexibility rather than going back to the office full-time. The president of Global Workplace Analytics, Kate Lister, also responded to today’s findings. “Organisations should be asking themselves, ‘How can we empower our people to do their best work wherever they do it?'” instead of worrying about whether their employees should work in an office, remotely, or a combination of the two.
(Tashia Bernardus)