Is Tuesday the new Monday? Which days do employees prefer to be physically present at work?

Maybe the days we were working entirely from home are now a thing of the past, but many companies continue to offer flexibility to their employees.

But what should be the balance between time spent in the office and working remotely?

As the business world adapts to the new era of flexible working, companies are experimenting with the optimal schedule. No one yet has a definitive answer to the question of how many days a week workers should be in the office or at home.

Golden Section

Working three days a week in the office is the norm, with Google among those choosing this ratio of 3:2, while according to a poll conducted in the US in 2021, most people think three days is best model.

What employees say

The IWG’s study of its 300 flexible workplaces in the UK revealed that Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are workers’ preferred days for office work.

According to the study many workers choose the middle three days instead of the beginning and end of the week, avoiding the potentially busier Monday and Friday commutes in an effort to achieve a better work-life balance through of hybrid work, enjoying more consecutive days at home.

The effect on productivity is also noticeable. Recent research from Harvard Business School suggests that “an intermediate number of days in the office results in more email being sent, more email being received, and increased innovation in work products.”

“The trend is fueled by the hospitality industry, as restaurant and bar owners report that Wednesday and Thursday nights have become the new Thursdays and Fridays for drinking and eating out,” according to Reuters.

The Great Resignation

Several surveys also show that the imposition of mandatory office hours no longer suits the majority of workers, with many quitting their jobs in protest at back-to-work policies.

In a 2022 survey, recruiting firm Robert Half found that 50% of US employees who work from home “would look for a new job if they were required to return to the office full-time.”

This striking fact is behind the “Great Resignation,” a phenomenon particularly prevalent after the pandemic. A typical example is the director of Apple, Ian Goodfellow, who resigned after the company’s policy to increase the days in the office to three.

Companies that have a successful hybrid work model recognize that success is based on the flexibility they give their employees and the trust they show them to work where and how they want. The golden ratio has yet to be found but it seems flexible working is here to stay, which is why workplaces are adapting to support the new way of working