A Radnor executive search firm says employers and employees have very different views on remote work in a post-pandemic world, writes Jeff Blumenthal for Philadelphia Business Journal.

About 80% of executive-level employees want to work remotely or in a hybrid model.

But 70 % of corporate human resources professionals think employees should only be doing remote work less than half the time.

“That’s going to be a problem for employers,” said John Touey, principal at Salveson Stetson. “Those that offer more flexibility will be more competitive for talent in areas like finance, HR, legal, IT, and marketing.”

A “Return to Office” study surveyed 118 human resource professionals and 364 executive level employees.

Touey said companies are trying to figure out what hybrid working arrangements mean.

Even as an overwhelming majority of executive-level workers want to work remotely, 40% of HR professionals only expect 25% or less of their employees to do so.

Another 30% had the number at between 26% and 50% of employees.

“It could be one day a year or three days a week,” Touey said. “I think employees have a more flexible view of what it means.”

About 70% of companies are still figuring out what their return-to-work plan will be. Most won’t implement a plan until after Labor Day.

“In the long-term, you want to know how many people you need to accommodate so you can figure out your real estate situation.”

Read more at Philadelphia Business Journal about post-pandemic working arrangements.