US Wages For Jobs That Require Full-time Office Work

Although many jobs still allow for remote or hybrid work schedules, more and more managers are requiring their staff to work full-time hours in the office. Among the major companies that have implemented a five-day-a-week in-person attendance policy are Boeing, UPS, and JPMorgan Chase. However, rehiring all of these employees on-site comes at a considerable cost for some of these businesses. This is especially true in the US, where flexible work arrangements have become more popular. As of January 2024, about 29% of paid workdays were still completed from home in the US. "Companies will have to compete more aggressively on pay if they cannot compete on flexibility," states Julia Pollak, chief economist of California-based ZipRecruiter. As a result, US salaries for jobs requiring full-time office work are rising. Companies were paying, on average, $82,037 (£64,562) for entirely in-person employment by March 2024, up more than 33% from 2023 ($59,085; £46,499), according to ZipRecruiter statistics obtained by the BBC. The pattern is cross-sector: employees seem more likely to gain more money by going back to their pre-pandemic office schedules than they do for totally remote ($75,327; £64,320) and hybrid ($59,992; £47,211) roles. A portion of this is making up for the flexibility that employees have prioritized during the previous several years; the more pressure there is on employees to give up that independence, the more compensation companies must provide. According to ZipRecruiter statistics, employees in the US who switched from totally remote to fully in-office setups until 2023 received a salary increase of 29.2%, which is almost twice as much as those who made the opposite move. "The conclusion is that people demand higher pay increases for fully in-office jobs," according to Pollak. "An employer offering flexibility can negotiate the overall compensation package with non-monetary incentives, while an employer wanting teams on-site five days a week can only offer financial terms; a dollar value is placed on time spent in the office." Remote employment has been less common in the UK and throughout Europe; in October 2023, for instance, a poll of 15,000 businesses and employees in the UK revealed that 43% of workers had gone back to working exclusively in offices. According to Pollak, this indicates that the trend for an in-person premium is anticipated to be less than in the US. According to ZipRecruiter data, employees in the US who switched from entirely remote to totally in-office setups until 2023 had a 29.2% wage increase. It makes sense for all parties to benefit from flexibility rather than a wage increase in the current cost-cutting environment. Nevertheless, according to Pollak, some employers are prepared to raise wages in order to compensate for filled offices because they feel the trade-off is worthwhile. The investment will pay off with better business results. "Among some employers, there can be a perception that remote workers are less productive," she continues. A lot of them also have a strong "financial and psychological investment in their corporate real estate"; they will stop at nothing to occupy their offices. According to Barbara Petrongolo, a professor of economics at the University of Oxford, there is an unexpected consequence to this salary disparity: it may exacerbate existing labor market inequalities. Women are significantly more likely than men to desire flexibility when it comes to taking care of others. Therefore, certain segments of the workforce are compelled to essentially forgo higher-paying chances if the highest-paying positions offer less flexibility." Experts predict that the existing premium for an entirely in-person workweek will persist for some time if employers truly want their employees in offices; there is no indication that flexible work arrangements are going away. For instance, according to data from ZipRecruiter for March 2024, about 33% of professional and business-service positions in the US are listed as requiring either remote or hybrid work arrangements. "Workers still want flexibility, and there are plenty of jobs advertising the ability to work from home at least two days a week," Petrongolo states. "So, in order to impose inflexible working conditions that are unfavourable to the employee, employers have to continue to pay more." Other stories Tanzanian Energy Regulators Provide NPA With Support The interpreter for Shohei Ohtani was sacked due to stealing allegations. Ghana’s GDP surges to GH₵841 billion by 2023: Services industry leadership The markets are rising to all-time highs. Economists such as El-Erian and Krugman are also unable to overcome their anxieties. BoG Governor urges GCB to spur transformation in the banking industry