Hybrid work is becoming the new normal in the workplace, a new study from Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) confirms. With this trend comes a new problem: how does hybrid work affect the real estate market? For companies renting multiple floors in a corporate building, the impact can be minimal. But companies that have invested millions in amenities like fitness centers or child care centers may find themselves in a quandary.
“The genius of hybrid work has exploded and there is a real opportunity for organizations to work with their employees to find smarter and more efficient ways to work and make better use of their real estate,” said Andrew Mawson, CEO of 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 may lead some businesses to reduce office space or sublease portions of their office space. Tech companies are fighting this problem by redesigning office space. Tech companies are looking to create office space that promotes collaboration and bonding between teams.
Average 1.4 days in the office per week
Changes in office footfall and a growing sense that hybrid work is here to stay mean a shake-up in the real estate market is imminent.
To come to this conclusion, AWA collected data from almost 80 offices in 13 countries and 13 sectors, representing about 80,000 employees. The purpose of the study was to determine how many days per week employees in a hybrid work environment come to the office to work.
The survey found that, on average, US workers are the least likely to come to the office, averaging just over one day a week, compared to a global average of 1.4 days a week. The survey showed that people are in the office about 26% of the time on average 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% that have a hybrid work policy, the most popular is offering employees to work face-to-face two or three days a week. However, companies that had an employee presence policy of two to three days a week found that employees did not adhere to the policy.
The future of work
According to the survey, the most effective way for companies with hybrid policies to encourage employees to come to work is to allow individual teams to set their own policies and schedules. Team-specific in-person policies call for employees to come into the office just over two days a week, more than any other hybrid policy.
In a hybrid policy of two or three days in the office, employees only come to the office for 1.6 days. According to the survey, two-day policies have employees in the office for 1.1 days, while three-day policies result in 2.1 days of employee presence.
Across all industries, the study found in-office in-person presence to be the highest in banking, with 47% of the industry’s employees working in-person on any given day. Conversely, on average, only 15% of technical workers go to the office to work.
In the 13 countries surveyed, office attendance is below 39% on any given day, with North America and Latin America having the lowest rates at 32% and 25%, respectively. However, the most stark contrast the study found has to do with the nature of the hybrid work policy and presence in the office between US and UK employees. Overall, surveyed employees in the United Kingdom go to the office more often than US employees, at a rate of over 4% per day. This difference can be explained by the fact that American employees value clearer boundaries between work and personal life.
Other factors may 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 to US employees.
Source: .com