Times are changing, that’s for sure. Many of us experienced remote work in the past 15 months at some point, and we definitely don’t all have the same opinions on it. Some love it, some hate it, and some don’t really care either way. One thing’s for sure though – COVID has changed the workplace and will have lasting effects long after the virus has run its course.
What do we know about the impacts of remote work and what is remote work going to look like into the future? Businesses and employees alike are looking for answers to their questions. PwC conducted a survey in early 2021 on work-from-home strategies, employee opinions, and business perceptions, giving some insight into what might be coming. Their bottom line: More business leaders are finally convinced of gains in productivity, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be giving up the physical office.
- Companies who support remote work are reaping the rewards of their efforts.
If there’s one thing employees and executives can agree on, it’s that employees are more productive now than they were before the pandemic started. Over half of executives said that employee productivity has improved when working from home compared to only 44% saying so in June of 2020. This should help reassure the skeptics out there that remote work is in fact not any less productive than in-office work. However, one thing to remember is that companies can find ways to maximize remote work productivity. This can be done by investing in tools that allow virtual collaboration, additional IT infrastructure, more management training, and communal office space for when employees are in-office. Unfortunately, only 45% of employees say that they company successfully extended childcare benefits during remote work, while 81% of execs think so. That’s a major discrepancy.
- Even though executives want to increase their in-office work in 2021, employees aren’t too sure.
There’s also a discrepancy in the percent of employees and executives who think they will be back working on-site by July. 75% of executives think that more than half of their workforce will be on-site by then, but only 61% of office workers think so. Employee productivity influences whether or not employees think they’ll be back in the office though. Employees who said they were less productive at home were more likely to say they’d be back in the office, whereas those who were more productive at home said they’d be less likely to be back in office.
- A mix of in-office and remote work is going to become pretty typical.
Most executives say that their employees will be in the office at least 3 days a week. Interestingly, 32% of executives say that there’s no turning back now – because business performance isn’t suffering, they’ll likely allow their employees to work remotely significantly more. Executives believe the physical office is important to help maintain an office culture. But with the changes in the amount of time employees spend in the office, it will be important that the purpose of the office is made clear. Will it primarily be a place of collaboration and meetings? Will employees have designated office space or communal office space? These are questions executives will have to answer. Executives might also have to consider implementing new scheduling tools to help monitor employees remote and in-office work schedules.
- Employees and employers don’t agree on what the optimal remote work schedule should be.
More than half of employees have consistently said that they’d like to work remote at least three days a week, and 29% want to work remotely five days per week. However, only 43% of employers prefer limited remote schedules or want to be back in the office as soon as possible, and only 24% expect many employees to be working remote for a high amount of time. Most aspects of work have performed similarly or better than they did prior to COVID, though 27% of employers say that onboarding new hires has been worse than pre-COVID.
- Most executives think that they will see changes in their real estate strategy over the next year.
The most common changes include consolidating office space and opening more satellite-type locations to accommodate workers working remote in other locations. 31% of executives plan to reduce their office space, while 56% anticipate increasing office space in response to increases in employee counts and greater social distancing needs. Most real estate owners and investors believe that office tenants are going to require more square feet per worker than what was required before the pandemic. Whatever happens, it’s certainly going to look different than what we’re used to.