Americans’ employment situations and attitudes are being shaped by changing workplace policies and the Delta Variant.

Medallia, Inc. , the global leader in customer and employee experience, announced the release of their Return to Work Report – a free analysis examining insights on how Americans are feeling with regard to returning to work amid today’s volatile employment climate.

“COVID-19 has accelerated workplace changes to an incredible extent”

“COVID-19 has accelerated workplace changes to an incredible extent,” said Andrew Custage, Head of Analytics for Sense360 By Medallia. ”Organizations need to understand how attitudes about the workplace have changed, what employee expectations are about returning to the office, and what impact the Delta Variant is having on employees’ thinking regarding the workplace.”

To track and understand consumer behaviour, Sense360 By Medallia combined data from three sources: foot traffic data from smartphone geolocation of more than 2 million opted-in consumers, spend data from more than 5 million consumers, and psychographic survey data. Combining multiple datasets yields a more holistic view of the customer journey, and a more accurate way to answer strategic insights questions for retailers.

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Drawing on this industry leading pool of data, the Return to Work Report examines:

• Data on how consumer sentiment about the workplace has changed
• Which aspects of potential jobs are most important in deciding where to work
• Attitudes toward working remotely and the Delta Variant

Highlights include:

• Among those who are working from home, fewer than 1 in 5 want to fully return to the workplace. Most prefer a flexible schedule with 2 or 3 days of going into work per week.
• When asked what is most important in choosing a future job, survey respondents said that remote flexibility was the third most important factor, behind salary and schedule.
• However, a majority (almost 6 in 10) believe that some consequences are fair for employees choosing to stay remote while their colleagues return to the office. Consequences viewed as fair include stricter oversight and slower eligibility for raises and promotions. Of note, less than 1 in 5 believe that job termination or salary reduction are fair consequences for employees that choose to remain remote.
• Among those who work in-person, 2 out of 5 have seen their workplace policies (i.e. masking, social distancing, etc.) change due to the Delta Variant. However, only 1 in 10 of respondents working in the office say that the Delta Variant will reduce how often they go into the workplace. For remote workers, the Delta Variant is creating a greater impact on return-to-office plans.

“Perhaps the clearest insight from the report is the importance of location flexibility in the minds of employees. Employers have a lot to think about regarding what levers they’re willing to pull for attracting and retaining talent, and should consider what levers are seen as acceptable as part of planning to return to the office,” said Custage.

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