Hybrid working is becoming the new norm in the workplace, as new research from Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) confirms. With this trend, a new concern emerges: how does hybrid work affect the real estate market? For companies that rent a few floors in a corporate building, the impact could be minimal. But companies that have invested millions in amenities such as fitness centers or child care centers could feel the pinch.
“The genius of hybrid working is out of the bottle and organizations have a real opportunity to work with their employees to find smarter, more efficient ways to work and make better use of their real estate,” said Andrew Mawson, CEO of the AWA. “We believe this will have a profound impact on the real estate market, which is not currently recognized by the industry. »
Empty offices and unused amenities could cause some businesses to reduce office space or sublet parts of their office. Tech companies are fighting this problem by redesigning office space. Tech companies are looking to create office spaces that promote collaboration and bonding between teams.
1.4 days in the office per week on average
Shifts in office footfall and a growing sense that hybrid working is here to stay mean a shake-up in the real estate market is imminent.
To reach this conclusion, the AWA collected data from nearly 80 offices in 13 countries and 13 sectors, representing nearly 80,000 employees. The objective of the study was to determine how many days per week employees in a hybrid work environment come to the office for work.
The survey found that, on average, American workers are the least likely to come to the office, averaging just over one day a week, compared to the global average of 1.4 days a week. week. The survey found that people are in the office on average about 26% of the time, and that employees prefer to go to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Of the companies surveyed, 60% do not have a hybrid work policy. Of the remaining 40% who have a hybrid work policy, the most popular is to ask employees to work face-to-face two or three days a week. However, companies with a policy of employee attendance two to three days a week found that the policies were not followed by employees.
The future of work
According to the survey, the most effective way for companies with a hybrid policy to entice employees to come to work is to allow individual teams to set their own policies and schedules. Team-specific in-person attendance policies see employees come into the office just over two days a week, more than any other hybrid policy.
In a hybrid policy that mandates two or three days of presence in the office, employees only come to the office for 1.6 days. In two-day-only policies, employees are in the office for 1.1 days, and three-day policies result in 2.1 days of employee attendance, according to the survey.
Across all industries, the survey found that in-person office presence is highest in banking, with 47% of employees in this industry working in person on any given day. Conversely, on average, only 15% of tech workers go to the office for work.
Across the 13 countries surveyed, attendance in the office does not exceed 39% on any given day, with North America and Latin America being the lowest at 32% and 25% respectively. However, the most stark contrast the study found relates to the nature of hybrid working policies and office presence between US and UK employees. Overall, employees surveyed in the United Kingdom go to the office more often than American employees, at a rate of more than 4% per day. This difference could be attributed to the fact that American employees appreciate clearer boundaries between their work and personal life.
Other factors could be at play; for example, access to public transport and mandatory annual leave are more common in the UK than in the US, making hybrid work more attractive for US employees.
Source: ZDNet.com