Would you take a pay cut to avoid returning to the office? Lots of workers would, study says

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Would you take a pay cut to avoid having to return to the office? An increasing number of employees say they would, at least those are the findings of a new survey from the Harvard Business School.

The Bay Area has one of the highest work-from-home rates in the nation and San Francisco’s downtown recovery has been agonizingly slow, compared to other cities. But increasingly, major employers locally and nationally are mandating a return-to-office following years of pandemic-induced work-from-home policies.

President Donald Trump has ordered federal workers to start reporting to the office. Locally, the City of Oakland announced that it would begin requiring workers to show up in-person over the next few months. Major tech companies like Amazon, Dell and Salesforce have rolled out similar return-to-office mandates.

But pandemic-era habits die hard apparently, with studies indicating a high level of resistance to return-to-office mandates from workers. One recent study indicated that nearly half of all U.S. workers — 46% — would change jobs before returning to the office full-time.

Now, a new study indicates that a similar number — 40% — would be willing to take a pay cut to stay at home. In the survey, HBS researchers asked 2,000 workers if they’d be willing to give up part of their salary to maintain flexibility, rather than RTO five days a week or find a new job.

Nearly half of those surveyed said they would not accept a salary cut. However, 40% said they would take a pay cut of 5% or more to avoid going into the office. And 9% said they’d take a pay cut of 20% or more to stay home.

The highest number of respondents who said they’d take a pay cut were those who worked remotely before the pandemic. Workers over the age of 50 meanwhile, valued remote work the least.

​SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Would you take a pay cut to avoid having to return to the office? An increasing number of employees say they would, at least those are the findings of a new survey from the Harvard Business School. The Bay Area has one of the highest work-from-home rates in the nation and […]