Widespread return-to-office mandates aren’t discouraging job seekers from looking for flexible work, according to a report released Nov. 12 by Flexa, a remote and flexible job site.
The site saw the “highest number of flexible job hunters ever recorded” last quarter, it said in a statement announcing the data. The number of seekers looking specifically for flexible roles more than doubled in number from the previous quarter, Flexa said, with 22,014 job hunters signing up between July and September 2024.
Notably, Amazon’s 5-day RTO mandate was revealed in September, but it wasn’t the only organization to take such steps. Even the U.S. Department of Labor will require workers to be in the office five days for each biweekly pay period as of Dec. 1.
This ongoing conflict emerges in Flexa’s data, as well. While 59% of job seekers said they preferred “fully remote” roles, only 2% of job postings advertised fully remote work between July and September. And while demand for fully remote roles continues to increase compared to past quarters, related job posts only continue to decline, Flexa said.
However, more than three-quarters of job posts advertised hybrid work, meaning anything from 1 to 4 days in office — even though only 11% of job seekers said they preferred hybrid roles, Flexa said.
An end to the conflict may not come any time soon. A majority of CEOs told KPMG they expect a full return to the office in the next 3 years, according to a September report. But 1 in 5 workers told Resume Builder that they are ignoring their company’s RTO mandate, and that they want to be in the office for three or fewer days per week.
