CNBC and SurveyMonkey’s Workforce Survey finds that over 80% of workers are now back in the office fully or most of the time
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ and SAN MATEO, CA, April 23, 2024 — CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and SurveyMonkey today announced the results of their latest Workforce Survey, which finds that 82% of workers are now fully or mostly in person, while the percentage of workers who have primarily remote roles continues to decline, reaching 16%.
The CNBC|SurveyMonkey survey, which polled over 5,000 workers in the U.S. from April 3 – 5, also highlights that of the workers back in the office, 70% say they prefer to be on-site. Additionally, Gen Z workers are less enthusiastic about their roles at work compared to older workers, with nearly half (47%) of Gen Z workers saying they are “coasting” at work, surpassing those who say they are “thriving” (40%) or “struggling” (11%). Younger workers also are more likely to say they are “just here for the paycheck” (42%) compared to older generations.
Still, Gen Z workers do remain ambitious, but the survey finds their motivations range beyond pay and benefits – one in four Gen Z workers cite greater autonomy (24%) and increased opportunities to connect with coworkers (25%) as leading workplace changes.
At a time of heightened political tensions in the office, Gen Z workers are also the most likely to approve of talking about politics at work. Even though almost half of workers overall (47%) choose politics as the topic they’d ban from being discussed at work, the aversion from Gen Z workers is the lowest, with only 41% saying they would ban political discussions, which is lower than Millennial (46%), Gen X (52%) and Boomer (49%) workers.
“These findings paint a picture of the evolving U.S. workforce and highlight a growing gap between how workers actually work and how they’d prefer to work,” said Lara Belonogoff, Senior Director of Brand Management and Research at SurveyMonkey. “That gap and the unique behaviors of Gen Z to value meaningful work and embrace politics in the workplace may signal the start of a generational shift in workplace culture. Understanding these changes is crucial for businesses that want to attract, retain, and motivate their employees.”
Additional key findings from the April 2024 CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey include:
There is a gap between current work arrangements and worker’s preferences for remote opportunities:
- Nearly three in ten (28%) say they prefer mostly or fully remote work, higher than the 16% who are currently remote in any capacity.
- Among workers who work mostly or fully in person, 18% say they prefer working mostly or fully remote.
All five components of the Workforce Happiness Index saw slight improvement, but the index continues to remain incredibly consistent:
- 86% of workers are satisfied with their jobs compared to 85% in December 2023.
- 73% say they are well-paid compared to 72% in December 2023.
- 91% say their work is meaningful to them compared to 90% in December 2023.
- 73% say morale at their company is excellent or good compared to 71% in December 2023.
Fewer workers think it is a good time to start their own businesses:
- A third of Americans (32%) view the current climate as less favorable for starting their own business compared to last year, nearly double the percentage who say now is a better time to start their own business (17%).
- More Americans (31%) cite pursuing their passion as the main reason for starting their own businesses than any other factor, including being their own boss and making more money.
- Opinions are split on entrepreneurship, with half of Americans (50%) saying they would be happier running their own businesses and almost half of them (44%) saying they would prefer working a normal day job.
- Men are more likely than women to say they would be happier running their own business (54% vs. 46%).
- Black Americans are much more likely than other ethnic groups to prefer running their own business – 65% of Black Americans versus 54% for Hispanic, 47% for Asian and 46% for white.
- Americans who have recently considered quitting their job in the last three months (58%) are more likely to believe they would be happier running a business versus 46% who haven’t considered quitting.
CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent Sharon Epperson will reveal the results of the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey on Tuesday, April 23 throughout CNBC’s Business Day programming. For more information on the survey including the full results and methodology and in-depth articles, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-workforce-survey-april-2024/
Methodology:
The SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted April 3-5 among a national sample of 5,993 workers in the United States. Respondents for this survey were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. Data have been weighted initially for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States age 18 and over, then weighted for age, race, sex, education, employment status, and geography using Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey to reflect the demographic composition of United States employed population.
