What's your current working situation? Fully remote, hybrid or have you returned back to the office?
According to this recent City AM article the number of people going into offices in London has climbed 31 per cent over the last month.
The same article uses the memorable term 'TWAT' to describe those who are going into the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
In August 2021, we asked Guild members what their working plans were for the rest of 2021 - how frequently would they be in the office and not working from home.
A staggering 71% of respondents said that they would be in the office 0-1 days a week for the rest of 2021.
But Guild usage data shows a different story
The Guild app for professional communities and networking was designed to be mobile-first, but can also be used on a browser*.
In June 2020 we recorded a 120% increase in total messages sent on the Guild platform for 3 months after 23rd March 2020, compared to the 3 months before lockdown. This increase was significantly greater than the Kantar study on consumer app WhatsApp which saw a 51% increase in usage.
But let's look at some more interesting Guild usage data.
From September 2020 - September 2021 the total number of Guild user sessions on mobile devices (Android and iOS) totalled 27%, whilst Web sessions totalled 73%.
The first 2 weeks of October 2021 is showing a peak in mobile access to the app. Mobile devices (Anrdoid and iOS) totalled 51% of user sessions, whilst Web sessions dropped to 49%.
*[To use Guild on a desktop/laptop browser simply type: guild.co/app and log in to your Guild account.]
So, are more people back in the office than they originally thought?
With a clear spike in mobile usage of the Guild app, does this mean more people are on the move, mobile and back in the office?
This shift to mobile over desktop use could indicate a change in professional behaviours. Perhaps there are more professional TWATs in the world than we envisaged in August!
Or maybe people are still working mainly from home, but are more mobile. They could be attending professional events now they are increasingly becoming in-person, or perhaps they are travelling to working hubs and co-working spaces and are not necessarily in the office.
The future of work is flexible, and hybrid work has advantages for both employees and employers.
In truth we don't know the reason for the spike in Guild's mobile usage, but we'll pose the question the Guild group Future of Work: Reimagining Business and see whether people have returned to the office, whether the word TWAT is acceptable and what hybrid looks like in reality.
Need support adopting flexible, hybrid working models?
Why not join the Guild group ‘Future of Work: Reimagining business’ for free?
This supportive group focuses on addressing the challenges of finding the right work/life balance, improving wellbeing and managing a remote workforce.
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