Nearly Half of In-Office Workers Report No Face-to-Face Meetings, NY Fed Survey Finds - Economy and business

A New York Fed survey found that many employees who work in the office still rely on Zoom and Slack, with 48.8% reporting no in-person meetings on their most recent office day.

Many employees are returning to the office for much of the workweek but still experience little in-person contact with colleagues, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In a survey of 1,835 college-educated workers, 48.8% said they had no face-to-face meetings on the most recent day they worked in the office.

Employers have cited collaboration, productivity and mentorship as reasons for requiring staff to come in. But the researchers found that office attendance often does not translate into those interactions. On in-office days, 70.6% of respondents had at least one teammate working elsewhere, and more than a third reported having neither in-person nor hybrid meetings.

The survey also found that 37% of respondents attended at least one virtual meeting while all participants were in the same office. The researchers described a pattern in which employees commute in only to take video calls and exchange messages online.

The authors, New York Fed research economist Natalia Emanuel and University of Virginia economics professor Emma Harrington, say the experience of working remotely from colleagues is more widespread than the share of fully remote workers suggests. They point to teams spread across multiple offices, employees who do not follow attendance rules and employers that do not strictly enforce them as factors contributing to the disconnect.

Conducted in September, the survey was intended to provide a conservative estimate, the researchers said, because companies often increase office attendance after summer, and the period from Labor Day to Thanksgiving typically involves less remote work than holiday periods.

The researchers caution that their survey does not measure relationships with colleagues outside respondents’ teams or in-person contact with clients, which may occur away from the office. They also note that employees often value seeing colleagues, but argue that offices increasingly fail to provide that benefit.

The authors say the findings may have implications for worker well-being and for how organizations are structured. They do not recommend abandoning office mandates, however, arguing that consistent adherence to attendance policies can help ensure employees get the face-to-face contact they seek.

Sources: CNBC Markets.