Workplace Attendance

11. Current observations of workplace attendance

yes-adherence not strictly enforced yes-attendance recorded, adherence enforced

As the comment from Advanced Workplace Associates testifies, what people say and what they do are often two totally different things.

The peak in observed workplace attendance at 3 days per week, and with a greater number of 2 days per week than 4 days ties in with most general observations of slightly less than 3 days per week in the office.

That 5 days per week is reported by almost 25% of the respondents is possibly more of an indicator of SPACE’s client base, where our involvement within the North East energy sector implies more operational roles and therefore an increase in expected daily attendance in the workplace.

For those who didn’t fall into the numbered categories, individual agreements with employees that are dependent on their contract were the main reasons for reporting ‘other’ .

One of SPACE’s clients recently commented that the reason for not having a mandated number of days in the workplace was the desire not to add a level of bureaucracy where it was not needed. That more than 50% of respondents stated their formal attendance policy is a guide and not enforced would seem to be a 'common sense approach' .

Follow-up questions for those who record attendance and enforce adherence might be 'how is this achieved?'—i.e., through a manual checking process or via technology —and 'was this the case pre-pandemic also?'.