Offices, spaces that (still) have future

After a year since the Government decreed the Alarm State and restricted non-necessary mobility, remote working is, in a labor level, the most important change seen within this new normality. Work from home and adaptation to it has meant a huge challenge.

A challenge for many companies and especially for the big majority of employees that didn’t know this reality. Despite de undeniable advantages, cost and commuting savings and the better conciliation… One year after, the end of office work as we knew is still impossible to announce.

80% of workers want to go to their offices at least three days per week

That’s what has been extracted from a recent study published by real state agency CBRE. In ‘One year of work from home’, and after surveying 2,300 employees from companies of different sectors, a 80% recognized their preference for going to their offices at least three days a week. And a 28% declared they would go to their workplaces five days per week. On the other hand, only a 14% would remote work four or five days.

This data gives food for thought. Half the people that participated in the survey believe that work from home has a positive impact in our health. Just a 15% believes that impact is negative. Yet, it seems the combination of work from home and in offices is the option that most prefer.

According to the study, many employees feel distant from colleagues and clients when they work from home (35%); others don’t consider their home a good place for work (26%) and many others worry because of the lack of adequate technology and equipment (22%).

The solution is more humanly united work teams and combination of home and office working

Adam Grant, Wharton School teacher, thinks “virtual work has benefits for productivity but also big risks for collaboration and company culture”. It’s no news that connection with co-workers and with the purpose of the company can be affected by a total physical separation.

Offices provide employees of a space face-to-face interaction is possible, and this traduces into a more efficient collaboration and cocreation. In this moment, also, recognitions for positive attitudes besides that those for success are also crucial. And when they happen face-to-face, they have more power. At the same time, a human union besides what is purely professional might help develop a shared culture; it will also make of collaboration something easier and more efficient.

A year after the burst of the pandemic, that compromised our interpersonal relations, it doesn’t seem strange to know that many people want to work, at least partially, along the other member in their team. Offices provide companies of everything that work from home can’t offer. And vice versa.