Hybrid Work Model Remains Resilient Across Israeli Tech and Business Sectors
A new survey by EER Global reveals that the hybrid work model remains deeply entrenched in Israel's tech and business sectors, with 70% of companies planning no policy changes.
The hybrid work model, combining remote work and office days, remains firmly in place. This is according to a survey by global headhunting firm EER Global, conducted in September among a group of roughly 1,400 HR vice presidents at Israeli companies operating domestically and abroad. The forum largely consists of technology firms, alongside industrial and pharma companies, including Check Point, Teva, SodaStream, Keter Plastic, Playtika, Rapyd, Monday.com, and Wix.
No Longer a Perk, but Part of the Contract
Out of the 300 companies that responded to the survey, 30% require employees to come to the office three days a week. An identical share of companies (30%) stated that they have no fixed requirement for the number of in-office days. Meanwhile, 22% of companies require four days of attendance per week, 8.6% demand full daily presence, 8% mandate two days, and only 1.4% settle for one day or less. Compared to a survey conducted in September of last year, no change was recorded in the required number of office days.
The data also shows that attendance requirements are uniform across most organizations. 60% of companies noted that the physical attendance mandate applies equally to all employees, while 23.3% responded that rules vary across different departments.
The vast majority of companies (76.7%) firmly expect employees to be fully available while working from home, exactly as they would be on office days. In contrast, 15% of companies expect availability only during core hours, alongside flexibility outside those times.
Enforcement Lags Behind Policies
Further evidence of the hybrid model's popularity is that 72.7% of companies have not changed their work policies since last year, and 70% of them currently do not intend to change them in the future. According to the survey, working from home is no longer perceived as an employee perk, but as an inseparable part of employment terms.
Alongside this, a trend toward increasing office days is emerging. However, the survey reveals that many companies do not actually enforce attendance requirements in practice. 42% of respondents noted that they do not maintain formal enforcement and rely on trust in employees, 30.7% settle for informal reminders from direct managers, and only 16.7% maintain formal attendance tracking and documentation regarding physical office work.
"CEOs want employees close to their eyes and hearts, but day-to-day they don't invest the necessary resources for enforcement. It's not that checks don't happen, but it simply isn't examined as a core metric," says Miri Gal Bourt, co-CEO and owner of EER Global.
Liran Wolf, owner of Wellspire, which provides wellbeing services and manages an HR community of about 1,800 companies and organizations, adds another angle. "Ultimately, the employer derives great value from physical presence, but it costs more. Beyond potentially rising rent and utility expenses, employees have grown accustomed to working remotely, and financial investment is now required to keep them in the office," she explains.
Recruitment Challenges and AI Impact
Another survey question examined the ways companies encourage office attendance. Half of the respondents noted they initiate no special activities for this purpose, while about 30% reported holding social events and activities to incentivize employees to come in.
Another interesting figure shows that nearly one in five companies (18%) experienced a job offer rejection by candidates due to the requirement for mandatory office attendance. Furthermore, 52.3% of respondents noted that attendance policy is uniform for all candidates and entirely non-negotiable.
Despite the expansion of artificial intelligence, the survey shows that AI development has virtually no impact on companies' thinking regarding the need for physical presence. More than 70% of companies stated there is no connection between the two, while 22% responded that the issue has not yet been discussed within the organization.
