'Defeated' CEO's Finally Concede Hybrid Working Is Here to Stay

'After a year of cracking down with rigid return-to-office mandates, defeated CEOs are now finally accepting that hybrid working is here to stay,' reports Fortune:

KPMG surveyed U.S. CEOs of companies turning over at least $500 million and found that just one-third expect a full return to the office in the next three years.

So it's official: Leaders who believe that office workers will be back at their desks five days a week in the near future are now in the small minority. It's a complete 360 on their stance last year, when 62% of CEOs surveyed predicted that working from home would end by 2026. At the time, 90% of CEOs even admitted that they were so steadfast on summoning staff back to their vertical towers that they were sweetening the pot with salary raises, promotions, and favorable assignments to those who showed face more.

But now, bosses are backtracking: Nearly half of CEOs have concluded that the future of work is hybrid — up from 34% last year. What's more, a sizable chunk of CEOs aren't just embracing working from home on Fridays, they're going one step further and ditching the workday altogether. KPMG found that a third of CEOs are exploring the feasibility of a four-day week at their firm...

Research has echoed that nearly half of companies with return-to-office mandates witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated, and 29% of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. It perhaps explains why, as KPMG's data shows, CEOs are now waking up to the fact that the future of work is probably the happy medium of hybrid... Lewis Maleh, CEO of the global executive recruitment agency Bentley Lewis, has already witnessed a U-turn to more flexible job ads. 'I've noticed a definite rise in job postings advertising remote or hybrid work,' Maleh tells Fortune. 'We haven't worked on any searches that require the candidate to be in the office five days per week in the past six months globally.'

'The shift demonstrates the cementing of hybrid work models, as CEOs increasingly recognize flexibility as a key factor in attracting and retaining top talent.'

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