Despite this, most companies do not want to abolish the home office in principle. For instance, this is highlighted by an Ifo Institute survey on German companies, which shows that three out of four companies surveyed intend to continue offering home working as an option. However, there are international differences. By contrast, employees in countries such as France and Japan have often returned to the office full-time. Countries such as Ireland, Spain and the UK have seen the largest increases in remote working since 2020. In France, only 29% of workers work remotely at least once a week compared to 51% of Germans, 50% of Italians, 42% of British, and 36% of Spaniards.
Many employees welcome the opportunity to work from home or to utilise the flexibility of hybrid working. Statistics show that 47% of workers prefer hybrid working. For the younger generation, returning to the office is even more unthinkable: 71% of Gen Z in remote or hybrid work wouldn't return to a fully in-person workplace. Even if employers only want a partial return to the office, this is contrary to the wishes of employees.
For most employees, even a partially enforced return is inconceivable; they want to retain full flexibility and self-determination and research by the University of Pittsburgh shows that a forced return to the office is bad for employee satisfaction. Equally, if employees feel a lack of trust or that they are being micromanaged unnecessarily, it could lead to resentment and mutual mistrust. All this is problematic for retaining and recruiting staff when finding talent is challenging in a highly competitive job market.
At the same time, a survey by Checkr found that 56% of employers saw an employee’s refusal to return to the office as a red flag, suggesting a potential clash between both sides.
What are the relative merits of having staff return to the office, hybrid work, or work remotely from home, and how can you achieve the best balance for the business and your employees by using a combination of effective management and suitable technology?
Why employers may want workers back in the office
There are a number of reasons that a return to the office could be desirable for employers – these include:
1. Potential trust issues
A forced return to the office could be a sign of potential trust issues – business managers may feel that staff could be less productive when working outside direct sight. A survey by Statista on ‘concerns of organisation leadership with hybrid work worldwide’ shows the chief concern (55%) as 'Not being able to see signs employees are demotivated'.
2. Fulfilling the requirements of the entire workforce
It could also be the requirements of older employees that employers want to fulfil. A study commissioned by Great Western Railway in the UK for example, showed that 77% of workers aged over 55 struggles with blurring boundaries when working remotely and prefer an office environment.
3. Justifying office costs
Justifying the considerable costs of running office space, particularly if it is often under-utilised by the team, could be a further motivation for wanting workers back in the office.
4. Practical needs
In some cases, such as businesses that deal with physical products or services, there is a practical requirement for the team to be present in one physical location for a larger percentage of time.
Why return to the office? – The advantages of working in the office
There is no denying that working in a shared physical office environment has many advantages around enhanced cooperation and social interaction. These include:
1. Productive face-to-face conversations
Face-to-face conversations can be highly productive, particularly with specific project goals or important discussions – for example, product development or negotiating disputes.
2. Off-the-cuff conversations
Meeting face-to-face is also better at facilitating unplanned or off-the-cuff conversations – be that sharing ideas with team members or interactions with other teams or individuals who may not normally talk to one another directly. This also makes social conversations or practical brainstorming easier compared to doing so through a virtual meeting.
3. Comfort
Comfortable locations such as a workplace café, lounge, garden, or outdoor space, can be highly conducive to longer, less formal, and more in-depth conversations. Hands-on demonstrations can also make understanding easier.
4. Tackling difficult topics
Face-to-face interactions allow for a better understanding of body language and expression, which can be particularly important if you need to tackle difficult topics such as negotiations, staff reviews or disciplinary meetings, more easily.
5. Social interactions
Working in a shared office makes social interactions easier and more natural, which can help combat loneliness and isolation compared to remote working.
6. More suitable workspaces
Some workers may not have the space or facilities to work comfortably at home, or there could be distractions from children or pets etc. People might not be able to retire to the peace and quiet of their own working room during working hours if they work and live in a shared house/apartment or still live with their parents. Many companies take care of the employee environment and invest in well-designed ergonomic office workplaces to ensure better employee health – which is much harder for employees to achieve at home. If the office and team are mostly based in the same city or town this may also offer the option of a short or easy commute to better working facilities within the workplace, compared to working from home.
7. Physically separating work and personal life
Physically separating work and personal life between the workplace and home can help mental health because clear boundaries are drawn between the two. Remote working can increase the pressure on workers to continue working outside their allotted work hours because of the ease of access to work systems and communications in their homes.
Or not going back to the office completely? – The benefits of hybrid or remote working
We've now looked at all the advantages of working in the office. But what about the benefits of hybrid working and remote working? Here are some key benefits to consider:
1. Productivity gains
Hybrid working is shown to increase the productivity of workers. According to a Stanford study, remote workers are up to 47% more productive than office workers and spend 10 minutes a day less being unproductive. Because hybrid working allows workers to choose a suitable location to operate from it also has more flexibility to cope with external disruptions than a fixed office. Modern open-plan offices can be busy when lots of employees are there, with distractions such as people talking on a phone, having conversations with one another, or spontaneously asking questions. By working remotely at home, it can be easier for an employee to avoid some of these disruptions, with peace and quiet to work faster and be more productive.
2. Work/life flexibility
The flexibility of hybrid working enables employees to find the right work/life balance, which is shown as the most popular hybrid working benefit (78%) in a study by Forbes, be that caring for children and other family members, or minding pets. Also, workers with disabilities or special needs can work from their own adapted home or a suitable remote location, without having to navigate around a potentially unsuitable office space or one which brings them additional challenges.
3. Attracting employees
Hybrid working has consistently proven to be a popular choice with workers and makes a business more competitive in the employment market. A recent survey highlighted by Ten 2 Two shows that 76% of employees say they would be more loyal to a company if it offered flexible working arrangements. Figures from Coworking Europe also show that 42% of European job seekers would actually refuse a role without remote working options. Therefore, especially, facilitating remote working can be a key competitive advantage for employers as it enables the option to attract a broader range of talent, both nationally and internationally, that isn’t geographically dependent.
4. Integrating contractors and freelancers
The hybrid working approach also makes it simpler and more straightforward to integrate contractors or freelance workers into the existing team. There is no need to find additional physical desk space or physical hardware for these additional workers, they simply need to be granted access to the appropriate cloud-based systems to enable their seamless integration with in-house teams. Equally, when they stop working for the business, it is easy to remove their access to business systems, for security.
5. Reduce environmental impact
Remote working can also help to reduce environmental impact. According to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, people who permanently work from home can reduce their CO2 emissions by 54% compared to those who travel to an office. Also, reduced demand for large office spaces can lead to a decrease in the construction of new buildings, which would have involved significant carbon emissions and use of raw materials.
6. Savings on office space
Hybrid working can also help a business to downsize or redistribute its office space, thereby saving on the overheads and additional costs of running one or multiple sites. Research by IWG shows hybrid working saves businesses an average of £8,100 (€9,547) per employee per year through lower facilities rent, heating/ventilation, and support staff costs.
7. Supporting international working
Remote working with modern communications technology enables teams to collaborate easily, no matter where they are physically located around the world.
Creating a working environment in which office-based and hybrid & remote workers feel comfortable
Having a team that includes remote, hybrid, and remote workers can present challenges that must be effectively managed and supported. How can employers create a working environment that fulfils all requirements and promotes social interaction?
1. Ensuring alignment and setting clear expectations
Effectively managing team members’ expectations, teamwork, and collaboration is a challenging task. With workers potentially working around personal commitments (particularly remote workers) and travelling to or visiting the office and other sites, there could easily be a disconnect between different groups and even conflicts or resentment. Managers need to ensure alignment among all parts of the team. The management must be clear on what is expected, and all the team members must communicate clearly with each other, wherever they are working. There needs to be respect for everyone’s time and circumstances, but without it negatively impacting the wider team. Having clear and robust policies in place, with clear expectations, and contracts that reflect this are all important.
2. Organise physical meetings that include everyone
It is advisable to specifically organise team meetings or brainstorming sessions in the office from time to time. This will ensure both office and hybrid workers get the chance to meet face-to-face and to communicate accordingly, helping to build a sense of a single team rather than a 'them and us' perception that could result from the physical separation of people. Organising in-person social events is another option that takes advantage of a friendly and more relaxed situation.
3. Provide suitable office spaces to encourage greater usage
Office spaces also need to cater for visits by hybrid working staff, with suitable areas for working privately and also areas for having meetings. Attractively designed, comfortable, and practical collaboration rooms and workspaces will encourage workers to visit the office more often to exchange ideas.
4. Ensure the whole team has the technology tools they need
Ensuring you have the right technology tools available for your employees to match the specific needs and conditions of every worker is also vital. Along with laptops and smartphones, this needs to include access to company data, services, and tools through cloud systems that are easy to use, but also highly secure. Endpoint devices must ensure full security wherever they are used to maintain the overall security of the business and its data systems. Office meeting rooms will need video conferencing technology to include those team members working remotely and home offices will need the appropriate tools to reciprocate this.
How Konica Minolta helps to support your digital remote workplace
Konica Minolta is the ideal partner to help you ensure your teams have the right technology tools in place – whether they are working in the office, remotely, or taking a hybrid approach.
We offer a number of cloud-based services that are perfect for enabling your employees to work successfully, seamlessly, safely, and productively from any suitable location. These include:
Workplace Intrusion Patrol secures all the endpoint devices and ensures the full security of the whole team, wherever they choose to work.
M-Files is an ECM system that allows employees to access company information from any work location. It enables employees to find all company information quickly and access all data from different repositories from a single platform, whilst improving and simplifying the management of documents and other information in the company.
When it comes to providing your employees with a user-friendly collaboration solution that enables a positive employee experience, you can’t surpass Microsoft 365. With its many apps, Microsoft 365 covers a wide range of application areas and ensures people and organisations can work together more effectively across different locations. For instance, Microsoft Teams provides instant messaging, audio and video call functions. Viva Engage is an ideal way of enhancing collaboration and communication that supports employee communities and conversations, enabling people to crowdsource answers and ideas, share their work and experience, and more closely connect with those they work with, whatever the geographic location. In addition, SharePoint Online allows you to store all documents securely online so that they are easy to find, and it can also be accessed via mobile devices. You can also extend the use of SharePoint Online to build an intranet and provide additional support for employees.
With Workplace Pure you can translate documents, convert them from one format to another, simply print, scan or fax them from anywhere, or upload documents directly to various cloud repositories. This makes document processing perfect for employees whatever their location is.