Providing people options on where to work post-pandemic is the approach of a majority of food industry executives in a recent poll by FMI-The Food Industry Association and Deloitte.
The survey, based on a poll of 150 U.S.-based product suppliers and food retailers and interviews with 15, showed that the top return-to-work goal for 58% was to provide employees a choice as to whether to return to offices or continue working from home.
“It all boils down to the war for talent,” one executive said. “As much as some may want to get back to where we were before, it’s going to be something in the middle. People want flexibility.”
On the other hand, 24% said their highest priority was to get everyone back into a physical location. Some think that in-person work is more effective. Others “think it is only fair to ask office workers to come back in since their essential worker peers—who stocked shelves or operated on production lines—never really left,” the Deloitte summary of the survey says. An additional 10% said they want to leave as many people working from home as possible.
In addition, 18% of respondents said they would require all returning personnel to be vaccinated, although many are offering incentives like a $100 bonus instead of penalizing.
