Welcome back. This week's column is authored by Jennifer Rossa, a freelance business and finance editor who is based in New York.

While some investment banks are pushing employees to return to the office full time, some private-equity firms are taking a softer approach.

Advent International, Apollo Global Management Inc., Ares Management Corp., Carlyle Group Inc. and Vista Equity Partners are among those committed to hybrid work. More than half of large and midsize firms list developing an effective hybrid office or work-from-home plan as a major priority, according to EY’s 2022 Global Private Equity survey.

At Vista Equity Partners, work is flexible depending on the team, geography and time of year, and the firm provides a stipend and technical support for remote work. At Advent, everyone is in the office at least three days a week. The baseline at Carlyle is also three days, plus or minus a day depending on the team. Apollo and Ares follow a three/two model for most workers while investment teams are in the office four days a week. Ares also closes its offices between Christmas and New Year’s, and in 2022 piloted a program for employees to work from anywhere for up to three consecutive weeks over the summer.

Private equity has long emphasized its in-person, hands-on approach to doing deals as one of its strengths, so the industry’s embrace of hybrid working comes as somewhat of a surprise. But there are a number of factors pushing firms in this direction.

For one, offering remote work helps firms stand out in a tight job market. Alternative-investment firms increasingly find themselves competing with many different types of companies for talent, including technology companies. Many tech names now allow hybrid work, with some, including Airbnb Inc. and Twitter Inc., allowing entirely remote work. 

“We saw this as a differentiator that would allow us to attract top talent,” said Jessica Dosen, global head of human resources at Ares. “It’s also great from a diversity perspective.”

With many financial firms aggressively recruiting more diverse employees, remote work may be particularly appealing to women by allowing them to find a better work-life balance. Hybrid working is one of Level 20’s focus areas, said Pam Jackson, chief executive of the nonprofit that aims to increase diversity among private-equity firms in Europe. She added that flexible-working policies are good for everyone, not just women.

“We believe the focus should be on being more supportive of hybrid working for everybody,” Ms. Jackson said. “Covid-19 has taught us all that we can work smarter, not harder. Hybrid work is helpful not just to women but also to men who want or need that flexibility.”

Firms say they have experienced some hurdles in rolling out remote-work policies, including maintaining a collaborative culture, explaining the rationale for remote work to leaders and making sure employees understand why different teams are subject to different in-office requirements.

To emphasize collaboration and connectivity, some firms expect employees to be in the office on certain days.

“We have everyone come into the office every single Monday and Tuesday because we do believe in community and culture,” Ms. Anastasia said.

Certain teams at Ares also ask all their members to come in on specific days, and plan activities for days that employees are in the office, such as having a food truck on site or hosting cultural education events with one of the firm’s employee resource groups.

“We’re also asking our employees to try to structure and organize their work so when they’re in office, they’re taking the opportunity to engage with people in person, not just sitting on Zoom,” Ms. Dosen said.

It is possible that an economic slowdown could result in a push to bring employees back to the office. But as long as the labor market remains strong, a change in course appears unlikely. Employees’ desire for remote-work options is strong enough to cause them to seek out new employment, according to an April report from the ADP Research Institute that found two-thirds of workers globally have or would consider finding a new job if asked to return to the office full time.

“We’re really pleased with how it’s shaped up,” said Ms. Dosen. “We don’t have any plans to take it away.”

The number of office workers back at their desks seems to be creeping up slowly, a recent survey from Partnership for New York City shows.

The organization surveyed more than 160 major Manhattan office employers between Aug. 29 and Sept. 12 to gauge the extent to which employees have returned to the office or are still working remotely.

As of mid-September, according to the survey:

• 49% of Manhattan office workers are at the workplace on an average weekday, up from 38% in April. Only 9% of employees are in the office five days a week. The share of office employees that are fully remote dropped from 28% in April to 16%. Return-to-office rates are projected to increase gradually through the rest of 2022, with 54% of workers expected in the office on an average weekday by January 2023.
• 77% of employers indicated a hybrid-office schedule will be their predominant postpandemic policy, largely in response to employee preference. For employers with a hybrid model, the survey reports that 55% of employees are in the office at least three days a week.
• 54% of employers expect their office employee headcount will increase or stay the same over the next five years with only 10% expecting a decline. Additionally, most don't have plans to reduce their real-estate footprint in the city at this time despite the increase in days of remote work.

Access the full report.

Workers are returning to U.S. offices at the highest rate since the pandemic forced most workplaces to temporarily close in 2020, as infection rates continue to fall and more companies intensify efforts to bring employees back.

Office use on average was 47.5% of early 2020 levels for workers in the office over the five business days from Sept. 8-14 in the 10 major metro areas monitored by Kastle Systems. The company, which tracks security swipes into buildings, said that was the highest percentage since late-March 2020.

Midweek days were especially strong, with office use for Tuesday and Wednesday last week at about 55% of the prepandemic workforce, also a high during the pandemic for those days, Kastle said. The data through last Wednesday were the most recent weekly figures available.

Even in Texas, where return-to-office usage figures have led the nation most weeks, workplace attendance is rising. Downtown Houston experienced a 10-percentage-point rise after Labor Day to 63% after being stuck at about 50% for around five months, according to Central Houston Inc., which monitors the movement of mobile phones entering office buildings.

Most employees are returning as part of hybrid workplace strategies that allow them to split time between the office and remote work, though even here employees have experienced a recent shift toward the workplace. Some businesses are moving toward requiring three days of in-office attendance, up from two days, said Kristopher Larson, Central Houston’s chief executive.

• New Data Show Broad Shift to Remote Work During Pandemic
• Enough, Bosses Say: This Fall, It Really Is Time to Get Back to the Office*
• Bosses Promise Jobs With a Coveted Perk: Boundaries

• 3 Workplace Biases That Derail Midcareer Women (Harvard Business Review)
• Hybrid Working: Why the Office-Home Balance Is Still a Challenge (Financial Times)
• How to Boost Employee Performance in a Hybrid Work Environment (Society for Human Resource Management)
• How to Guard Against Proximity Bias in a Hybrid Workplace (Fast Company)
• People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View (ADP Research Institute)

Chitra Vemuri curated this newsletter.

✍️ Feedback on this newsletter? We would love to hear from you, so please get in touch. And be sure to visit us at The WORKPLACE REPORT