Friday Office Attendance: 12.4% (Even With 5-Day Mandates)
Friday in-office attendance sits at just 12.4%, compared to 24.3% on Tuesdays and 23.7% on Wednesdays. This is happening even at companies that have issued five-day return-to-office mandates. KornFerry calls it an engagement problem. Chuck pushes back hard — this isn't an employee engagement problem, it's a leadership engagement problem. Leaders aren't engaging with employees or explaining why specific days matter.
Jenni adds a critical point: without data from before the pandemic, nobody can actually say whether 12.4% on a Friday is good, bad, or completely normal. Maybe Fridays were always quiet. If you can't articulate why being in on a specific day is valuable, don't be surprised when nobody shows up.
