Quitting If The Office Reopens?
Google, one of the first major U.S. companies to send employees home last year because of the coronavirus, is setting new remote work guidelines as it speeds up plans to get staffers back to the office.
Blind, the largest anonymous professional network has been following office closings and reopenings closely since the start of the pandemic. Five days ago, a user ran a poll, asking over 3,000 professionals, “If WFH ends, will you quit?”. Here are some key learnings:
- 35% of professionals say they will quit their jobs if work from home ends
- 31% of Google employees say they will quit their jobs if work from home ends
- 43% of Amazon employees say they will quit their jobs if work from home ends
- 57% of Lyft employees say they will quit their jobs if work from home ends
- 70% of ByteDance employees say they will quit their jobs if work from home ends
- 11% of professionals say they “already negotiated to work from home forever.”
- 38% of Twitter employees say they “already negotiated to work from home forever.”
- 45% of Indeed.com employees say they “already negotiated to work from home forever.”
- 30% of Okta employees say they “already negotiated to work from home forever.”
- 54% of professionals say they would not quit if work from home ended at their company
- 70% of Facebook employees won’t quit if work from home ends
- 67% of Apple employees won’t quit if work from home ends
- 75% of Goldman Sachs employees won’t quit if work from home ends
- 69% of Tesla employees won’t quit if work from home ends
See a breakdown of company sentiments here.
Here are some anecdotal highlights of how professionals on Blind responded to the poll:
An ex-Google employee commented: “Google told me I would need to go back to the office eventually. So I quit. My new role is permanently working from home. I was an idiot to not do this years ago.”
A NVIDIA employee commented, “Yeah, depending on the role. I feel people have adapted to function just as well without being physically at work. Yes, sometimes things can be simpler by being physically together but I am not commuting on a daily basis”
A Bloomberg employee responded, “Not interested in going back in the office full time. I’m focusing on remote opportunities to avoid returning to Bloomberg.”
A user shared “Na if there is a campus, then I’d like to go. At the end of the day, we are humans and one way or the other socializing is important for most of us. So I’d always like the option to go on-site, but not everyday. 3 days onsite 2 days remote or vice versa would be good IMHO.”
A Microsoft employee shared their opinion “Nope. I don’t think the 5 day work in office will ever be relevant again. You will have Team A and Team B, working 2 days in the office and 3 days at home. Social interaction in person is needed.”
A Facebook employee shared, “it depends, if WFH is mandatory but company onsite perk is good I’m happy to go back. Otherwise, I either fight for hybrid WFH or quit”
You can read more of the conversation here.
Those employees who left the Bay Area or other large metro cities during the pandemic for less stress and perhaps to save money may have to return depending on their company’s reopening plans. Or, as seen in this data, they may simply quit their jobs.