Nearly half of Microsoft employees want to work from office

The survey was conducted among more than 160,000 of Microsoft's 180,000 employees across 100 countries.

Microsoft, on September 9, said 48 percent of its employees had said they planned to come to the office 3 to 4 times per week. Only 28 percent of managers have that expectation of their team.

An internal survey hinted at a gap between expectations of managers and employees with regard to frequency of working from the office.

While 8 percent of employees say they plan to come to the office every day, only 1 percent of managers expect the same of their team members.

Of managers, 35 percent said they had no preference as to how often employees came to the office.

The survey was conducted among more than 160,000 of Microsoft's 180,000 employees across 100 countries.

The report that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to hybrid work culture.

It is interesting to note that "focused work" was cited as a reason to both work from home and work from the office.

"Among employees who say they plan to spend the highest share of their working time at the office (more than 90 percent), 58 percent cite "focused work" as a top reason. Meanwhile, among employees who say they plan to spend a similar share of their time working at home (more than 90 percent), an identical 58 percent cite "focused work" as the reason," the report said.

The software giant announced that it has delayed return of staff to US offices, and has not set a specified date for the same due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Given the uncertainty of COVID-19, we've decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening of our US work sites in favor of opening US work sites as soon as we're able to do so safely based on public health guidance," Jared Spataro, a corporate vice president, said in a blog post.

"From there, we'll communicate a 30-day transition period that provides time for employees to prepare while allowing us to continue to be agile and flexible as we look at the data and make choices to protect employee health, safety and well-being," Spataro said.