Another week, another ‘Wave’ ???

5 news items from the world of work and workplace you can digest in 5 minutes.

This week:

1. 75% of companies plan to downsize office space next year
2. Labor Day RTO mandates fell flat because workers value flexibility over money
3. Hybrid work continues to grow among global employers

The Dawn of Downsizing: 75% of companies plan to downsize office space next year, compared to 46% in 2022, reports Worklife. According to a survey of 500 business owners by hybrid work platform Robin , 40% said they are currently using only half their available office space and 90% of companies in hybrid arrangements are using flex seating as a cost-saving measure. “What employers are trying to do is generate an office that people want to come into and work out of, and that’s not sitting in a large empty space,” said Micah Remley , Robin CEO. "Think about walking into an office and having a choice of a lot of different work points, that’s kind of the new terminology, it’s less about an individual desk anymore, it’s about having a choice of different places and types of spaces to sit,” said Janet Pogue McLaurin, FAIA, FIIDA , Gensler建筑设计事务所 ’s global director of workplace research. “We need to be thinking less about less square footage, but more what are the types of spaces that we really need for the purpose that people are coming into the office.” Read Full Article.

The Results Are In: The latest Flex Report by Scoop is here and it’s all in the data. Full-time in-office continues to shrink with 1/3 of US companies offering full flexibility meaning corporate employees do not have to come into the office. 87% of structured hybrid companies require 2-3 days per week in the office, which has been consistent throughout 2023. 97% of tech companies offer some work location flexibility, and professional services are the 2nd most flexible industry (87%). Massachusetts is the most flexible state, with 89% of companies offering some work location flexibility. Small companies (under 500 employees) lead on flexibility. 74% of small companies are fully flexible, while the majority of large companies (25k+ employees) opt for structured hybrid. Read Full Article.

Falling Flat: Labor Day return-to-office mandates fell flat because workers (still) value flexibility over money, reports Yahoo Finance . 美国哈佛大学 future of work professor, Prithwiraj Choudhury said “Every Labor Day we have a big return-to-office push but the numbers in the overall economy seem to be stable.” That’s because surveys show workers are generally willing to sacrifice 5% to 7% of their total compensation in exchange for the opportunity to work flexibly, he said. “This is a phenomenon that will sustain, because individuals are demanding it.” To that end, offering flexible work arrangements is a talent strategy, Choudhury said. “Unless you implement it, it’ll be way harder, in today’s economy, to attract and retain diverse talent.” Read Full Article.?

Growing Globally: Hybrid work continues to grow among global employers, says the latest report by 仲量联行 . With most workers back in the office globally, reconciling individual and collective needs will be a top priority for creating a positive hybrid employee experience. The report explores employers' and employees' new expectations in today's hybrid environment, uncovering best practices to attract employees to the office and maintain the flexibility offered by remote work. "The office has always been, and will continue to be, central to work experience and culture," said Neil Murray , CEO, Work Dynamics for JLL. "As more workers return to the office several days a week, we're continuing to learn about the shifting preferences for ways of working and how we can better deploy technology and flexible arrangements to meet these expectations. Ultimately, our research finds that the majority of global workers continue to crave a destination for human connection, so creating dynamic spaces that satisfy a mix of collaborative and focused work needs will ultimately be the most effective strategy to enticing employees to the office on a regular basis."?Read Full Article.

Embracing Employee Wellbeing: Consciously making employee well-being part of your company culture, with a balance of work flexibility and connectedness, will be the key to successful retention, reports HRMorning . That’s according to Aimee Gindin , the chief marketing officer of LifeSpeak Inc. , a “whole-person” employee well-being solution for employers, health plans and other organizations. "Educating managers about signs of mental health (struggles), signs of burnout, signs of stress that might be beyond what’s normal, and opening up dialogues with their teams is so important,” Gindin said. “I’ve had remote jobs where there were employees who really needed the in-person time, and they didn’t feel like they were getting the support that they needed remotely, and they ended up leaving. And then the opposite, where I have employees with elderly parents who are going through a challenging time and they require a level of flexibility in working hours that they can’t get if they’re forced back into the office three-plus days per week,” she said. Read Full Article.