As more companies push for employees to return to the office, a new survey reveals surprising insights about how remote workers spend their time. In the U.S., 32% of remote workers admit to secretly working while on vacation without their managers’ knowledge, according to recent findings. This trend highlights one of the key reasons employers are pushing for office returns—greater accountability and oversight. Despite employee resistance and companies like Amazon facing pushback, the survey sheds light on why some businesses are determined to bring their workers back.
Recent return-to-office mandates in countries like the U.S. and India have yielded mixed results, with tech giants such as Microsoft, Apple, and SpaceX seeing notable departures of senior-level employees, according to a joint study by the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Ipsos Public Affairs. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s mandate for corporate employees to return to the office has led to threats of “soft quitting” among workers. In the U.K., a survey by PR agency Reboot Online found that searches for “legal right to work from home” among UK Amazon employees surged following Jassy’s announcement.
Despite the backlash, many companies remain committed to returning employees to the workplace. While individual businesses have different reasons for this stance, a new survey offers a compelling argument for office returns.
How Remote Workers Spend Their Time
Remote and hybrid workers often claim that working from home boosts productivity, as they are free from office distractions and lengthy commutes. However, the latest data paints a different picture. According to a SurveyMonkey poll of 3,117 full-time U.S. workers, nearly half of remote workers multitask during work calls or complete household chores like doing laundry or unloading the dishwasher.
The flexibility of remote work allows one-third of employees to run personal errands, such as grocery shopping or picking up dry cleaning, during work hours. Alarmingly, one in five remote workers confessed to napping during their workday, and 17% admitted to secretly working from a different location without informing their employer, engaging in activities like watching TV or playing video games. In addition, 4% of workers revealed they were holding down another job while working remotely.
From Napping to Online Shopping
Multitasking during Zoom or work calls is a common trend among remote and hybrid workers. A third of workers admitted to using the bathroom during calls, while 21% confessed to browsing social media, 14% to shopping online, 12% to doing laundry, and 9% to cleaning the kitchen during work hours. Surprisingly, 4% admitted to falling asleep during Zoom calls, while 3% said they took showers while on work calls.
“Employees are making their own rules to accommodate the demands of high-pressure work environments,” said Wendy Smith, senior manager of research science at SurveyMonkey. “What you might consider ‘off-the-books behavior’ is widespread,” she added.
Even managers and executives aren’t immune to these habits. Over half of managers and 49% of executives admitted to multitasking during work calls. In response to the question, “Have you ever browsed social media while on a video or conference call at work?”, managers, executives, and individual contributors reported similar rates—22%, 20%, and 21%, respectively. However, managers and executives were more likely to shop online during work calls, with 16% and 14%, respectively, compared to 12% of individual contributors.
The Ongoing Office Return Debate
The data highlights the ongoing tension between companies advocating for in-person collaboration and employees who prefer remote work arrangements. Despite the widespread push for office returns, employees are clearly leveraging the flexibility of remote work to their advantage, leading to calls for re-evaluating productivity and accountability in a post-pandemic work environment.
The insights from this survey strengthen the case for employers who argue that returning to the office increases accountability and productivity. However, the resistance from employees remains strong, making it clear that the remote work debate is far from over. As companies grapple with the evolving dynamics of work, the balance between flexibility and oversight will remain a contentious issue.