U.S. employers feel pressure from staff on flexible work options, survey finds

Ninety percent of U.S. employers feel pressure from employees to make a long-term shift to remote or hybrid work environment, according to a survey by Plugable Technologies, a peripheral-technology company.

In addition, 63 percent of companies that manage a hybrid workforce “feel strongly that staff should be required to be in-office for a minimum numbers of days per week or month,” the poll found. About half strongly believe that workers should follow a consistent schedule of days when they’re in office versus remote, it said.

The survey also revealed that business leaders’ top suspicions about non-work activities of remote staff are binge-watching TV (64 percent), playing video games (52 percent) and sleeping during work hours (43 percent).

When citing their biggest concerns when it comes to interacting with remote staff, most employers (54 percent) cited workers’ unprofessional attire, 50 percent cited workers being visibly distracted by their surroundings and 46 percent mentioned staff appearing as if they had just woken up.

Plugable surveyed 2,000 owners, CEOs and members of the C-suite in the U.S. at companies with 10 or more employees. This survey data was collected in April 2021.