Business owners are pulling out all the stops to end remote work, with a wide range of companies offering to pay to relocate employees as long as they're willing to come into the office.
Despite the high cost of office space and the looming recession, companies around the world are doing everything they can to get employees back in the office. From threats of discipline to pay cuts for those that refuse to start commuting again, the movement to end remote work is far too common in the tech industry.
Well apparently, the stakes have risen even higher, as companies are willing to shell out the big bucks to relocate employees and get them back to that pre-pandemic office life.
Job Listings With Relocation Assistance on the Rise
According to research from the Wall Street Journal, more and more companies have started offering to pay for employee relocation costs.
Data from Indeed.com showed that job postings offering relocation assistance were up 75% so far in 2023 compared to last year.
Additionally, ZipRecruiter data showed that the number had nearly doubled, rising to almost 4 million, after hitting only 2 million in 2020.
How Expensive Is Relocation Assistance?
There's no other way to put it: Relocation assistance isn't cheap for these companies. The cost of relocating a new employee can range from $19,000 for a renter to $72,000 for a homeowner. For existing employees, the cost is even higher, topping out at up to $97,000 per employee. Still, some companies are willing to make that financial commitment to reestablish that in-office culture they love so much.
“We’re still believers in in-person work. And for those who are willing to work that way, we were willing to facilitate it with a relocation payment. – Matt Calkins, chief executive of Appian, a cloud computing firm in Virginia
You'd think that in the middle of a recession, in which companies are doing everything they can to cut costs, that businesses would be hesitant to commit funds to getting employees back into the office. Subsequently, getting workers back in the office must be proven to boost productivity, right?
Does In-Office Work Improve Productivity?
With all this news about companies trying to get employees back in the office, you'd assume that there was some concrete data about the negative impacts of remote work on productivity. However, statistics have largely shown the opposite to be true, with employees performing better, having better mental health, and staying at companies offering hybrid work for longer.
For starters, performance jumped by 22% at companies where employees were allowed to work from home. Additionally, 47% of businesses noticed increased productivity levels amongst employees who work remotely.
On top of all that, hybrid work schedules remain one of the top priorities for quality hires, which means you'll be sacrificing your best workers for the sake of your culture.
