Growing gap between employees’ work preferences and actual office use

There is a growing gap between employees’ work preferences and actual office use as they often say one thing but then go ahead and do something different.

“In the four years since the start of the global pandemic, work and workers permanently changed in all ways,” Linda Trim, director at Giant Leap, a workplace design consultancy, says.

“Employers quickly transitioned data to the cloud to enable remote work, teams leveraged technology to collaborate virtually across geographies and time zones and individuals learned how, where and when they work best alone and with each other.”

However, we are starting to see new work patterns emerge and a clear disconnect between what employees say and do when it comes to office work and office ‘vibes’, she says.

Trim points out that new research by Gensler, a global architecture, design and planning firm, found that while employees say they ideally need the office for two-thirds of a typical work week, they are only coming in for half of the time.

The study on work preferences was based on 14 000 office workers across nine countries working in 10 industries.

The study also found that employees are willing to return to the office more often for a new mix of experiences. “This suggests that employers must rethink the office to make it more attractive for employees and to better accommodate their diverse needs and behaviour,” Trim says.

“There is a new awareness that employees are unique individuals at various life stages who may have diverse living conditions, family arrangements and commuting patterns. As we reimagine a new workplace for the future, it is time to design people-centric environments that are flexible and tailored to workers’ diverse needs and behaviour, as well as their work preferences.”

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Key findings about work preferences

The study’s key findings include:

• Employees come into the office for half of their time, but say they ideally need the office two-thirds of a typical work week for their productivity.
• Younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials) have the largest gap in what they say and do. They come into the office for 43 to 44% of the time but say they ideally need the office 64 to 65% of a typical week.
• Employees living with children under the age of 12 report a preference for full and extended days in the office beyond 9 to 5, while office workers living with children above the age of 12 have a stronger preference for partial days.
• Office workers who travel to work for longer than 45 minutes currently come into the office the least but the majority stay for full or extended days. Office workers who live less than 15 minutes away from the office report working at the office 63% of the time, but ideally need to be there slightly less than currently.

The study also indicated that there is a mismatch of ‘vibe’ in the office between what employees have and their ideal, with most employees wanting what they do not have. Vibes range from quiet offices with fewer people, to spaces that are “buzzy,” to active spaces with lots of people.

Therefore, Trim says, the implications for future workplace design include:

• The need for more flexible and tailored office spaces that can accommodate the diverse needs of workers.
• A move away from universal planning, where all work settings have a uniform layout.
• A greater recognition of the unique needs of individual workers, including their life stage, living arrangements and commuting patterns.

“Workplaces must evolve and be ever-changing, consistent with the dynamic nature of work and the changing needs of the people who use them,” Trim says.

“This will create not only a more inclusive work environment, but one that recognises and celebrates that we are unique individuals working collectively to learn, grow and do great work together.”