Happy March Madness. Hopefully, your team and your bracket are alive and well by the time you read this.
Four years ago, most of the world started working from home. At Hirewell - we were a (mostly) in-office company. Prior to 2020 - 90% of the Hirewell team worked in the office 3+ days per week.
All of that changed overnight. We were forced to adapt, like everyone else.
As the world started to open up (2021/2022), remote work stayed the norm, particularly in tech, finance, and professional services. Then 2023 hit. The faucet of free money for tech companies was shut off. Companies started to push for employees to work in the office some (or all) of the time.
We all know the story. WFH vs return to the office has been debated endlessly. 25-34 year olds clearly have their preference. CEOs have their own views.
Clearly, the two groups don’t see eye to eye. It will be fascinating to watch this play out over the next few years.
My opinion? Companies need to make decisions based on their situation and what’s best for their future. They’ll need to balance employee satisfaction with company results. Is that a cop-out? Absolutely. But aligning those two things as closely as possible is all that matters.
I’d rather talk about what is actually happening. I dove into the Hirewell data to see how the numbers have played out.
- 2021 - 65% of the roles we filled were remote
- 2022 - 59% of the roles we filled were remote
- 2023 - 3/2024 - 33% of the roles we filled were remote.
The pendulum has swung in the other direction. Hiring has slowed, but it is still strong. But it has gotten a lot harder to find a fully remote job. In the short term, that’s all that really matters.
Why did I go down this rabbit hole? Emily and Ryan did a video on CEOs requiring a return to the office. Check it out!
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