Only 4% Of CEOs Are Prioritising Bringing Workers Back To Office: Survey

A new survey conducted by The Conference Board has found that chief executive officers (CEOs) are prioritising bringing workers back into the office full-time, five days a week. The US-based think tank surveyed 1,200 executives, including 630 CEOs across the US, Latin America, Japan and Europe. They found that just 4% of US CEOs and 4% of CEOs worldwide will prioritise bringing employees back to the office full-time. The survey also found that the top internal priority for business leaders is attracting and retaining talent.

"CEOs have thrown up their hands when it comes to getting workers back into the office full time. Just 4% of US CEOs say they will prioritize a full-time return to the office. Consistent with past surveys, attracting and retaining talent remains the number-one internal focus for CEOs globally," the think tank said. 

"CEOs are perhaps conceding that they need to let this issue go. There are so many other major issues that they need to deal with," Diana Scott, the US human capital centre leader at the Conference Board said, as per CNN. 

But this doesn't mean some US companies aren't taking a hardline stance in the new year. The outlet reported that several companies have already announced their plans to ditch their hybrid work policy and are now calling corporate employees back full-time. 

However, according to Ms Scott, the announcements are an anomaly as she believes "hybrid is here to stay". "It's become a non-issue at this point," she said.

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Ms Scott also noted that senior members of the companies are in the office more often. The study also noted that hybrid work is "firmly established". CEOs will have to approach hybrid work at an industry-by-industry level, Ms Scott said.

Meanwhile, the survey also found that CEOs are most worried about a recession and inflation this year. However, only 37% of US CEOs say that they are prepared for a recession, and 34% are prepared for high inflation. 

"Additionally, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are top of mind, but for America's CEOs the biggest geopolitical threat is at home: the ballooning national debt, which they put as their top geopolitical risk in 2024," the paper said.