Just a fifth of businesses offer marketers full flexibility on where they work

How often should marketers be in the office? It depends on who you ask. Retailers like Boots are mandating five days a week in the office for all staff from September, while businesses like GiffGaff have been taking a hands-off approach since before Covid and allowing colleagues to work however suits them best.

Four years on from the start of lockdown (23 March 2020), more than half of marketers (54%) responding to Marketing Week’s 2024 Career and Salary Survey say there is more of a trend in their business to return to the office compared to last year.

A quarter of marketers want to do fewer days in the officeIndeed, two thirds (64.6%) of businesses are taking a hybrid approach to working patterns, according to the Career and Salary Survey data.

Of the more than 3,000 marketers taking part, most are required to attend the office three days a week (25.2%), followed by two days (24.3%).

Just 10.1% of marketers say they’re being asked by their business to attend the office five days a week, while 17.8% work for organisations that are fully flexible, leaving it to the marketers to decide how often they show up. Just 3.1% have closed their offices and implemented completely remote work.

We will be publishing an in-depth analysis looking at the data split by gender, age and company size as well as exploring how marketers feel about changing working patterns tomorrow, with more news and features to follow.

Marketing Week has published a series of exclusive news and features based on the findings of the 2024 Career and Salary Survey, including the impact of the skills gap and ageism in marketing. Click here to view everything we’ve published so far.