6 How often are we actually at the office? Low office attendance worries organisations. All of the respondents in our study – with the exception of one – reported that they have some form of policy or rules around remote working. The most common policy was that 50% or more of working time must be spent at the office. Many reported a 3–2 rule, meaning employees are in the office three out of every five days. In our study, around 40% of both private and public organisations reported that 60% or more of the work is undertaken from outside the office. Half of the organisations (51%) do not manage to achieve an attendance rate of 40%, which is considerably less than what their policies allow (at least 51% of working hours to be worked from the office). This means that the majority of the organisations are failing to comply with their own attendance policies. 35% of the organisations report an attendance rate of 50–80%. These companies tend to be more centrally located and they are more often private organisations than public ones. The group of organisations with the highest level of office attendance in the study, with an attendance rate of 60–80%, is comprised entirely of private organisations. Office attendance also varies across the working week. More employees are on site in the middle of the week, meaning it can be more difficult to access meeting rooms on these days. If we compare actual attendance rates with the policies in place, it becomes clear that aspirations to have the majority of the work undertaken from the office are not being achieved. The study shows that there exists a great deal of uncertainty among organisations as to what actually applies in relation to remote working. Respondents feel unsure about what management actually thinks and wants in regard to hybrid working, in part because ignoring attendance policies does not result in any consequences. “People largely do what they want to. It says 50% in the contract, but people work from home more and managers don’t follow up on it.” The organisations are generally good at keeping track of office attendance. Just over 60% monitor employee attendance at the office and the majority do this digitally in one way or another. Attendance is monitored at the overall or group/ department level rather than individually. A small number monitor attendance manually at the office during the working day.
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