When it comes to hybrid work, companies are seeking arrangements that result in a successful return to the office environment, Fortune reported Aug. 15.
The publication cited a new report from Boston Consulting Group that provides insights for companies on workers' behaviors and preferences for these arrangements.
Boston Consulting Group's report is based on surveys of more than 1,500 global, office-based workers. It found that employees who said they work in hybrid models with set office days do not feel like they have flexibility. Twenty-eight percent of them reported feeling like they have significant flexibility in where they work, compared with 100 percent of employees working in less prescribed arrangements.
The report, released Aug. 15, also found that respondents were eight times more likely to want to work in person for affiliation and development compared with "focus work" (such as analysis, emails and writing reports) and administrative tasks.
Additionally, at companies where the company decides where respondents work, 24 percent of employees were unhappy with their work location policy, the research found.
"It's less about the days per week in the office," Debbie Lovich, head of people strategy at Boston Consulting Group and a lead author of the report, said, according to Fortune. "It's about: How do you build the muscle as an organization to create work that delivers the joy, flexibility, trust, accountability and productivity to the organization? If you don't, you're at risk of losing your best."
The findings come as a July report from McKinsey Global Institute found that hybrid work is not going away anytime soon, with office attendance stabilizing at 30 percent below pre-pandemic norms.
The report, which is based on a McKinsey survey of nearly 13,000 people in six countries, including roughly 3,200 the U.S., found that workers in healthcare tend to go to the office 3.4 days per week on average.
Read more about the report here.