Employees Say Constant Monitoring Harms Morale

The often-dreaded return-to-office (RTO) mandate seems to be making the rounds for larger companies, often causing hard decisions on the part of workers who might have moved away from their employers’ offices in favor of a lower cost of living. 

A new knowledge worker survey on remote work and RTO perception from tech recruiter Howdy.com found that despite management narratives around company culture, one in two workers think that RTO mandates are about corporate control. Key takeaways from the report include: 

• 61% said fully in-office work is the least productive (most favor hybrid).

• 53% said hybrid is the most productive arrangement; 61% said in-office is the least— and even in-office workers rate hybrid above their own setup.
• 82% believe fully remote teams can have great culture; workers define culture through engagement and trust, not in-person events

• 72% of in-office workers want some form of remote work; 51% said they don’t need to be there to do their job.

Interestingly, collaboration ranked dead last (1%) as a contributor to employee happiness; flexibility (32%) and salary (26%) led by wide margins across generations and work styles.

RTO mandates also aren’t the ultimate issue: Worker monitoring is. Whether it’s screen activity monitors or watching for green dots on MS Teams, these instruments of corporate surveillance were the No. 1 morale killer for 60% of respondents, negatively affecting workers even more than mandatory office attendance.