Office Return Poll Results: Arts Admins Want Everything

Last week’s survey asking readers about their current remote work status and if they are developing any preference for going back to the office or staying remote generated a good bit excitement. At just over 400 responses, let’s take a look at what we discovered.

Most Arts Admins Are Working Remote

Only a quarter of respondents indicating working a hybrid in-office/remote schedule while 2/3 were still firmly working from home. Only a small ratio of respondents, 12 percent, were fully in-office.

Most Arts Admins Don’t Know When/If A Return To The Office Will Happen

Just under ¾ of respondents indicated their employer has yet to release any formal plan for phasing in-office work back into the picture.

Most Arts Admins Want The Cake And Eat It

With a solid year or more of remote work under their belt, 58 percent of respondents indicated a desire for a hybrid work schedule. There was a dead-even split, 21 percent each, between those who want to remain entirely remote and those who are all-in for in-office.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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