Workers Fear COVID-19 But Want to Return to the Office

Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) - A new Return to Office Survey has found that after a year of COVID-19 quarantine, 85 percent of workers want to return to the office.  However, of those surveyed by Eden Workplace, 61 percent want strict enforcement of COVID-related workplace regulations by their employers.

In fact, the survey reported that a quarter (26 percent) even feel employees who violate COVID safety rules should face steep consequences of being demoted or even fired.

“Getting all workers vaccinated is a big part of creating a safety net for employees and employers,’’ said Aimee Kane, associate professor of management at the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University.  “Employers need to develop plans that will help nudge workers into getting the COVID vaccine.”

Sandi DiMola, chair of the Department of Analytical, Physical, & Social Sciences at Carlow University, said employers need to continue with policies of flexibility.  “Developing dedicated spaces for workers and cubicle pods can offer some form of protection and security for returning workers,’’ said DiMola.

One long year has passed since office buildings went silent, halls emptied out and cubicles sat vacant at offices around the country. The workforce nostalgia for water cooler talks, in-person meetings and a commute to work continues to get stronger each day that employees work from home. Some employees say they long to escape the boredom of home, noisy kids and barking dogs.

When it comes to actually coming into the office, it seems many workers want to do so for the ability to collaborate with their coworkers in person. The survey also found that some employees would base their schedules around  what they need to get done. Other workers surveyed reported that they would decide to visit the office based on who else will be there that day.

But Robert Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, said not all employees are all that quick to get back to “normal “employment.  “There are questions of legal liability in how employers handle returning employees,’’ said Strauss.  “Will vaccines be mandated or will employees be free to choose how to protect themselves.”

Other experts report that there is a huge discrepancy between what companies want and what employees think they want.  A Harris poll found that 47 percent of employees say their firms haven’t surveyed employees or provided them a platform to express concerns to gauge their interest in returning to the office full time.

Some employers have started outsourcing work or using gig talent for work that was typically done by full-time employees. With the decrease in COVID cases, organizations nationwide have been tapping gig workers to handle a spike in demand – a bank’s call centers, for example – or a change in customer engagement, such as markets that have gone online and use gig talent to enable direct delivery to customers.

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