While none of us read HR Brew they interviewed Frank Giampietro, Americas Wellbeing Director, about EY’s expectations for returning to the office so I guess we read them today. Business attitudes toward remote and hybrid working have changed a lot since then Two years ago, PwC was proud to announce that all 40,000 customer service employees in the United States could work virtually and live wherever they wanted in perpetuity. so it’s good to find out from time to time what companies are doing with RTO.
Where is EY on hybrid working these days? HR mixing:
Embrace “predictable flexibility.” Currently, EY expects most people to spend between 40% and 60% of their time working “together in person,” and the rest remotely, according to Giampietro.
In July 2022 Giampietro spoke to another HR newspaper that we don’t read about how the company was bringing its employees back under fluorescent lights. At that time, the company said that an employee survey showed that many people wanted to work in the office part-time (X), but that the actual number of people showing up to the office did not reflect that.
The HR manager wrote:
Earlier this year, the firm instituted what it called the “EY Way of Working Transition Fund” which covered all travel costs, all dependent care costs and all pet-care costs for its U.S. employees so that these barriers are removed during office visits. All of its more than 55,000 American employees were able to request reimbursement for these costs an unlimited number of times.
And here’s where we are today:
Last year, Giampietro and his team sought to understand “what was stopping people from gathering,” aside from the rise in Covid-19. They recognized the financial concerns related to commuting, as well as caring for dependents and pets, and decided to offer employees a “work method” fund of $800 per year to alleviate some of these costs.
EY launched the fund in February 2022 and has since seen a 150% year-over-year increase in time spent together in the office, Giampietro said. Due to the success of this allowance, EY will now offer it annually. The idea, he added, is to “ease the burden of getting back into new habits of getting together again.”
Reminder that the average cost per day in the office is $71 (assuming pet care is part of your cost) meaning an $800/year stipend would cover approximately eleven days in office. Hybrid workers spend a more modest $36 per day, spread over 22 days. Technically 22h22 so 22¼ days. THE The average American commuter spends $8,466, or about 19% of their annual income, on their commute. each year, if you live in Detroit, Atlanta, New York, SoCal, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, or Washington, DC, your average annual commuting cost is closer to $10,000.
Let’s get back to the subject. As with any other Big 4, expectations in the office are highly dependent on your team. HR Brew says that “some parts of the business spend more than 80% of their time in a hybrid environment,” which could mean 80% in the office or 80% remote, who knows. Other teams are hybrid, closer to half, they said.
EYs are invited to contribute their own anecdotal data.