Employers with no hybrid options will lose talent, says Coursera CEO

After accepting a remote working setup for two years, companies are beginning to entice their employees back to the office full-time.

However, Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of ed-tech platform Coursera, believes employers that don’t offer hybrid are going to lose talent to those employers that do.

In an exclusive conversation with Business Today, Maggioncalda explained that any employer who tries to get the employees to come back five days a week would end up with not the best talent. 

“The best talent is going to say – you want me to work for you? Here’s what I need. I need flexibility. I need good pay. But part of that means I want to have a hybrid work experience. And those employers that don’t offer hybrid, I think they’re going to lose talent to those employers that do.”

Aside from getting stuck in the office for eight hours a day, employees are usually dreading facing long hours of travel time to and from their workplaces. 

“A lot of employees are realizing they’re not very productive when they’re on buses and trains and in cars stuck in traffic,” Maggioncalda stated.

That said, the CEO also thinks there’s something valuable about working from the office — especially for a fresh grad or a new recruit.

However, once someone is past the onboarding period, the inefficiency of spending five days a week in an office to form a socially cohesive group is not worth the benefits of having a productive workforce.

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