55% Of Workers To Quit If Forced To Return To Office

USA – Employees are afraid of going back to their workplace while it is still unsafe to do so amidst the Omicron surge that they will likely resign if they are compelled by their employer to return, reported Bloomberg last week.

As of 6 January 2022, 55 percent of the staff surveyed by Morning Consult said they will consider quitting if they are forced by their employer to work in the office while it’s still not safe to do so.
This is up from 45 percent who said so during the previous week, an indication that efforts by businesses to get their employees to return to the workplace would face stiff resistance amid rising COVID infections.

In addition, over 40 percent of the respondents said they felt unsure about returning to their workplace as of 6 January versus 35 percent who said so on 30 December.

The results of the survey come as Robinhood Markets announced that it would permit most staff to work remotely on a permanent basis, while major firms like Wells Fargo and Facebook’s parent firm Meta again delay plans to bring workers back to the office as the Omicron variant sweeps across the United States.

The surge has result in manpower shortages with millions of Americans calling in sick, in addition to those who have already resigned, slowing the country’s economic recovery. Employers are also not sure whether the Supreme Court would reject the White House’s proposed rule mandating workers to be vaccinated or undergo weekly tests, clouding the office situation even more.

“When organizations don’t communicate effectively about what the future looks like, it creates uncertainty and can cause people to quit,” said Jim Harter, Chief Scientist of workplace and wellbeing at Gallup.

“Matching what employers and workers want going forward is essential, because work will never be the same again.”

Notably, roughly 40 percent of staff in 10 of the biggest business districts in the country s went to their workplaces in early-December, based on figures from security provider Kastle Systems. However, that figure declined sharply to 17.5 percent by the end of December and hovered at 28 percent for the week ended 5 January.