Workforce sentiment study finds 61% of respondents will return to the office in the future for community and collaboration.
COVID-19 sent us all home this year to establish WFH set-ups in potentially challenging home environments. For some it will have been a smooth transition but for others it will have been an ongoing struggle from day one, competing with flatmates for use of the kitchen table and striving to find a quiet place for a Zoom call.
A new study, conducted by commercial property specialists CBRE, surveyed 10,000 people at 32 companies in 18 countries, between June and August 2020, and contrary to increasingly popular opinion which suggests everyone wants to work from home forever, 61% of respondents said they will return to the office in the future for community and collaboration.
44% see the office as the only place in which they are able to fully access the tools and technologies they need, while 25% were seeking a physical boundary between work and home and 23% wanted a better physical set up in terms of ergonomic office furniture etc.
Whilst the pandemic has given the workforce an appetite for working from home, the majority of those surveyed would like a balance between the home and the office with 2-3 days a week of each, meaning that the office is here to stay, all-be-it in a reconfigured capacity, focussing on collaboration, creative ideation and social interaction, perhaps becoming more of a communal hub for training, seminars and career development.
Undoubtedly the role of the office has been altered in the minds of the collective workforce, however, it is clear from this research that as a destination for employees offices remain critical for companies to maintain with each individual business establishing its own stance on remote working and the continued key role of the workplace.
