JLL recently published results from their latest global office worker barometer, showing that forced remote working due to Covid-19 has created opportunities, but also exposed new social risks such as virtual fatigue or burn-out.

 

The research, based on responses from 3,317 office workers from 10 countries raise some interesting key findings, including:

 

  • An outstanding office is the best way for businesses to engage employees, with ‘office nostalgia’ high in exceptional offices. 69% of people highly satisfied with their office environment strongly miss their office, as opposed to only 5% for those not fully satisfied with their usual office environment, showing the office has a major role to play in helping employees navigate out of the crisis.
  • Homework fatigue is growing as workers increasingly miss ‘office life’, which is leading to aspirations of more balanced working patterns. 63% of the workforce want to keep the possibility to alternate between different places of work in the future.
  • Productivity at home is declining with a 10% drop in workforce that feels more productive at home than in the office, which is leading to new expectations for the office. 47% say are they are satisfied with their office today, which is a major drop compared to 63% a year ago.
  • Flexibility in working patterns has become a ‘must have’ in the employee package, with 88% of the workforce wanting more flexible working hours in the future. This is most likely driven by 79% of respondents saying the time saved on commuting having been used to improve quality of life through more leisure time, or being able to better deal with family responsibilities.

 

The report leads JLL to believe that the office will become the primary place of work again but must upgrade to meet the new priorities of the workforce.

 

Download the JLL report