Tech sector has lowest number of staff working at the office
Regardless of different views on remote work versus working at the office, a new survey says the average attendance in office is no more than 26% with most people at the office mid-week. 88% work from home on Fridays. Office attendance and desk usage is lowest in the tech sector and highest in the banking sector. The survey by consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates comprises close to 80 offices in 13 countries representing nearly 80 000 employees.
The report concludes that hybrid working appears to be here to stay. In the UK, 6 months after the removal of regulations, people are no longer fearful of contracting COVID from a daily commute, yet they are not returning to pre-covid travel patterns preferring to work Hybrid.
“Whilst the pace at which COVID restrictions are being removed is different by geography, the data from all geographies shows broadly the same trend. Organizations may soon need to recognize that this is the post-pandemic normal and evolve their working practices, processes and skills to support hybrid working models.”
“Offices in most sectors are under-occupied which, if these trends continue, will result in excess space being re-purposed or sub-let. We believe this will have a profound impact on the property market, which is not currently being recognized by the industry”, the report says.
Key findings:
- Average attendance in offices is just 26%, with peaks in the middle of the week of no more than a third of employees in the office.
- On average two thirds of desks in offices are now unused daily, and even on peak days offices are more than half empty.
- Employees prefer to be in the office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – with 88% of people working from home on a Friday.
- Organizations with hybrid working policies have higher attendance than those who do not. However, for those with hybrid working policies, attendance is far lower than expected – and at best 42%.
- If an employer trusts its teams to set their own policies, attendance is 41% – almost the same as where a three day a week policy is imposed.
- The ratio of desks to employees is higher in North America than in other geographies with 96 desks per 100 employees, compared to 79 dessks per 100 in the UK, and 56 per 100 in Latin America
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