Copyright Chicago Tribune
Despite headline-grabbing return-to-office mandates by some employers, hybrid and remote work are here to stay. Many employers are even perfecting their approach to flexible work arrangements. They’re making in-person time more strategic and purposeful, designating in-office days and taking steps to ensure new employees don’t feel isolated. “They’re undoubtedly here to stay,” Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, said of remote and flexible work options. “It’s hard to put that genie back in the bottle.” When employers adopted flexible work arrangements during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many found that employees were just as productive when working remotely. In the years since, they’ve discovered that hybrid and remote work options also improve morale and make it easier to recruit and retain employees, who are increasingly prioritizing flexibility. Among U.S. workers who have jobs that can be performed remotely, the percentage who work a hybrid schedule has hovered between 51% and 55% since November 2022, according to Gallup. That’s up from 32% in 2019. The percentage who are exclusively remote has stayed between 26% and 29% in recent years, up from 8% in January 2019. About half of the U.S. workforce is in jobs that can be done remotely, and most of those employees are working hybrid schedules. The two exceptions are the tech industry, where 47% of employees remain fully remote, and the government sector, where President Donald Trump’s administration ended remote work for most federal employees this year. “This is primarily employee-driven,” Thomas Vick, Chicago-based senior regional director at recruiting and staffing giant Robert Half, said of the hybrid and remote arrangements. The demand for flexibility has been building for years. Surveys before the pandemic repeatedly showed that 80% of employees wanted to work from home some of the time, said Kate Lister, founder and principal of Global Workplace Analytics. Today, many workers signal they won’t settle for anything less. About half of U.S. workers who work fully remote or hybrid say that if forced to return to the office full time, they would probably — or in some cases, definitely — search for a new job, according to recent SHRM research. Data shows they mean it. Employers who’ve mandated a return to the office have paid a price, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. The researchers found that S&P 500 companies had abnormally high turnover following return-to-the-office mandates. Turnover was especially high among women, senior staff and more skilled staff. Researchers also found it took significantly longer for the companies to fill job vacancies after the mandates. Robert Half’s Demand for Skilled Talent report notes that hybrid job postings rose from 15% in the second quarter of 2023 to 24% of new jobs in the second quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, fully in-office job postings declined from 83% in 2023 to 64% in the second quarter this year. Many employers on the Chicago Tribune’s 2025 list of top Workplaces have embraced hybrid and remote work. Before the pandemic, the staff at Frankfort-based Robinson Engineering worked in the office 100% of the time. Today 78% of the firm’s 144 employees work hybrid or remote, and employees can choose which of its offices they want to be their home base. Most employees spend three days a week in the office, said Denise St. Pierre, director of organizational development for the engineering firm. Managers and employees decide which days work best for the department and the individual. The company concluded that three days in the office works best. That has helped address the challenges of the remote/hybrid model, which, when not well-managed, can hurt relationship building, St. Pierre said. The company also holds meet and greets for new employees and fosters a sense of community through office celebrations, an annual softball game and an annual outing for employees and their families. Hybrid and remote work arrangements require top technology and transparency to be successful, which the company provides, said CEO Aaron Fundich. “Transparency of expectations is key; the expectation is that if the phone rings, you have to be there to pick up,” he said. “If someone sends you an email, you’ve got to be able to respond in an appropriate amount of time. If there is a project deadline, the deadline must be met whether you are in the office or working remotely.” Ashton Loitz, a project engineer, said being able to work from home has been a big positive, particularly since he and his wife became parents earlier this year. “I can spend time with my newborn and wife during lunch,” he said. “That’s been huge being able to see them during the day.” Whether he’s working from home or in the office, Loitz said if he needs to reach out to more experienced engineers for help, they’re accessible. Company events and activities have helped him feel connected to younger engineers, he said. Dana West, senior project manager at Robinson Engineering, said the hybrid model works for her. On the days that I’m in the office, I love to see people,” she said. “That definitely allows for better collaboration, checking in with people, feeling connected.” But when West needs to focus, particularly when writing reports, she’s better able to do that from home, she said. The flexibility also allows her to be involved in more activities with her twin teenagers. A reliance on data drove Itasca-based enterprise software company Flexera’s decision to allow widespread remote work. “The data told us people are more productive at home,” said Michelle Benko, senior director of employee communications and engagement. Flexera has 162 employees in the Chicago area and 2,300 globally. Sixty-three percent of employees are “Cloudies,” staff who work remotely full time; before the pandemic, only 25% worked remotely, Benko said. Workers are encouraged to work from home or at one of its nearby offices on “Together Tuesdays” each week. Flexera provides breakfast and lunch and encourages employees to use the day for collaboration, team meetings and socializing. To ease their transition, new Flexera employees are assigned a buddy. Managers are trained in how to supervise remote staff and are required to meet one-on-one with staff 30 minutes weekly to ensure things stay on track and that issues or roadblocks are addressed. With more hybrid workers, the company needs less office space, so it closed some offices and replaced them with smaller spaces. It also created collaborative zones for team meetings and socializing and reduced the number of permanently assigned desks, opting instead for shared workspaces. It assigns desk space as needed, Benko said. To foster community, Days of Connections are held quarterly. Employees working remotely in the same city are encouraged to meet for lunch and participate in social activities. The flex model “has been an integral part of our being a great place to work,” said Flexera CEO Jim Ryan. Kevin Miller, director of product marketing at Flexera, who has children ages 8 and 2, said he wouldn’t want to work for an employer that didn’t offer a hybrid/remote option. He values the flexibility and trust at Flexera. Desiree Loebach, senior recruiter who began work at the company in January 2021, opted to come into the office every day for her first six months on the job. “I wanted to be able to throw myself into learning all I could about Flexera,” she said. Loebach very quickly built up trust in her performance and now works in the office one to two days a week. Working from home saves her a two-hour round-trip commute. Accounting, tax and consulting firm Plante Moran doesn’t mandate a specific number of in-office days for its staff. Through its “Workplace for Your Day” approach, staff – working with their managers – choose the best work environment each day based on client needs, team dynamics and personal goals, said Tom Kinder, managing partner of the Chicago office. Most staff are in the office or on-site with clients at least three days each week. The company has a flexible in-office workspace approach. There are fewer assigned offices and desks than before the pandemic, and staff choose where to sit based on their needs for the day. That might mean choosing a quiet area for focused work, a collaborative space for face-to-face interaction or an area equipped for in-person and virtual meetings, company representatives explained. Jacquie Pollice, a senior tax manager, works an unconventional hybrid schedule. During the busy tax season, she’s in her Chicago office four to five times a week. At other times, she works remotely from Florida, where she has family and enjoys spending time with them during her off hours. “I get the best of both worlds,” she said. Fall is a busy season for Melissa Sutherland, senior manager in the company’s assurance department. During those months, she’s typically in the office Monday through Thursday. During the slower summer months, she works remotely two to three days a week, she said. She manages project teams from two to six people. To ensure things run smoothly, communication is key, she said. Captive Resources, an Itasca-based insurance consultant and broker company, shifted from a flexible hybrid model to designated in-office days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, said Rose Frieri, chief human resources officer. It made the change after noticing most in-person collaboration took place on one day. Seventy percent of its staff are hybrid, and 30% are fully remote. Captive Resources has provided training to ensure managers are equipped to properly supervise people working remotely and hybrid, and the company has stressed the importance of managers staying engaged with staff. “We are checking in on them, making sure things are going OK, that there aren’t issues,” said CEO Nick Hentges. “It’s really easy to not see issues when you don’t see people very often. So, it’s incumbent on our management team to make sure they’re really engaged with our folks, and we have to have the right systems in place, the right setups.” For Steve Hunt, 59, senior vice president of claims, the thought of working hybrid was an adjustment. “Based on my age, I initially had some reservations,” he shared. “I was a little leery, probably a little bit based on technology concerns and being in a team environment. But I did really adapt quickly.” His job is now fully remote, but he says he typically goes into the office once a week to once every week and a half. He enjoys the overall work-life balance it affords him. The “Sunday scaries” inspired the hybrid work model at Rosemont-based retail project management company Big Red Rooster Flow. Before COVID hit, the company started hearing from younger staff that as weekends wound down, they felt rising anxiety, explained Kathy Dunne, vice president of human resources. They were seeking more balance, flexibility, and a smoother transition into the week, she said. So, the company began giving employees the option of working from home on Mondays. Today, employees can work fully remote any day or come into the office. It’s their choice. To foster belonging, the company hosts Roosters of the Roundtable, a quarterly program where small work groups connect in 50-minute conversations on various topics. The company also publishes a quarterly Rooster Post staff e-newsletter. To assist new hires, there’s a structured training path and buddy system, Dunne said. Meg Makepeace, a vendor relations administrator, joined the company in June. She works fully remotely from Atlanta. “When I first started, they scheduled meetings with different people from different teams, one-on-ones with a variety of groups,” she said. That helped her feel supported and a sense of belonging, she said. The company’s employee turnover rate has improved from 27.9% in 2022 to 3% this year, Dunne noted. “Hybrid and remote work are no longer a shift for us, they’re simply how we operate,” she said. “Every plan, process and program we design is intentionally built with remote work in mind. As a result, our team’s morale is thriving. Productivity remains strong because we lead with trust, not mandates. People know they can do their best work without the looming threat of being pulled back into an office unnecessarily. That clarity and consistency have made all the difference.” Francine Knowles is a freelance writer.
