Before the pandemic, only ten percent of American workers worked at home for any length of time, and only a third had the option. We have been writing about how this has changed, most recently noting that many firms are going to allow workers to stay home forever if they like. But a new study by the big architecture firm Gensler's research institute finds that most workers actually do want to go back.
Many want more flexibility; less than half, 44 percent, wanted no days at home. But fully 70 percent wanted to work at the office for the majority of the time, while 30 percent wanted a more flexible arrangement where they could come and go.
Younger workers are much more interested in getting back to the office than older ones. This would seem counterintuitive, given that younger workers are so much more comfortable with being online, but the boomers have the homes with the comfy home offices, while the younger workers have tiny apartments, roommates or kids underfoot.
Younger workers report a far more challenging experience working from home than their older peers. They are less likely to feel as if they’ve made a difference or completed the work they needed to do at the end of a typical workday, according to survey responses. Working from home may be having an alienating effect on younger workers, too, as they may feel a gap between their work and their company’s mission.
The main reason that they want to go back is people. "When asked to rank the most important factors for wanting to come into the office, meetings with colleagues, socializing with people, and impromptu face-to-face interaction were the top three answers."
Despite the mainstream adoption of virtual collaboration technologies, respondents still listed people-focused reasons as the most important reason for coming into the office. By the same token, 55% of respondents said collaborating with others is harder, and 51% said staying up to date on the work of others is more difficult while working from home.
Workers do want change; they want more space, less sharing of workspaces, and more flexibility if they do want to stay home. "Fifty-five percent of people report that in order to feel comfortable returning to the office, a combination of stricter sick policies and changes around office cleaning and space configurations that accommodate physical distancing must be made first."
People who did not have personal workspaces note that they would actually like to have them.
