coming 12 months. And, yes, there have been some notable layoffs recently. But as we have noted in the past, Accounting and Finance departments rarely find themselves overstaffed, and they are rarely among the first departments to be hit with cuts. This combined with the obvious supply and demand challenge for professional talent gives us comfort that the Accounting and Finance talent market will drive right through any mild recession that may come. Return to Office The pandemic opened the opportunity of alternate working arrangements for employees that had not been common before we were forced from the traditional work environment for most workers. Work-from-home, remote work and hybrid work are all now common terms related to shifting the location and flexibility of how work is done. The pandemic forced companies to experiment with these alternate work arrangements, and many began to see surprising benefits for both the employees and the employer. Many companies, including ARG, were pleasantly surprised at how productive work-from-home could be. While the initial arrangements were positive for employees and employers found ways to make it work, there were certainly drawbacks. The realities of fully remote work, for most careers, crashed into issues like professional development, mentoring, company culture, and good old-fashioned face time. In the Accounting and Finance sector, we are seeing fewer and fewer fully remote roles and expect this trend to continue. Companies including Disney, Amazon, Google, Meta and Lyft have recently publicly announced return-to-office policies. These range from 100% in- office to remote by exception-only and preset hybrid work arrangements with a mandatory number of days per week in the office.
For many companies, the pendulum has shifted back to in-office work.
8 ARG Quarterly Barometer Q3 2023
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