Employees want hybrid working solutions and safety protocols to return to offices: Report

The world economy is slowly returning to normalcy as the dark cloud looming over subsides and vaccination drives pacing in full throttle. There is a significant change in the sentiments of the workforce and return to office has become one of the key focus points for both individuals as well as businesses.

A recent survey report called ‘Back To Office’ by Paperspace, a collective of design consultants showed that 63% of respondents in India felt that going back to the office is critical. The study conducted with over 610 employees and employers, highlights the importance of a collaborative work environment and the need for businesses to adopt hybrid solutions.

Hybrid solutions allow employees to come to the office occasionally and complete the rest of the task by working remotely

While many offices are in a process of putting together strategies and policies to bring their employees back to work, the report showed that a substantial 44% of respondents had already started going to the office. About 68% of respondents felt returning to offices will lead to an increase in their productivity.

ADVERTISEMENT

Speaking at the launch of this report, Kulin Kapadia, Managing Director, Paperspace India, said, “The natural experiment forced on the world by the coronavirus has led to organisations reimagining the future of work. After several months of working from home, employees and employers are both realising that the office holds more relevance in an organisation than just a place to get work done. While many companies have announced a hybrid model of working, it is imperative to get employees back in a more structured manner. As advocates of hybrid working solutions, Paperspace is bringing research and deep insights to all its office design strategies so that the Collaboration, Focus, Support and Social functions of an organisation can operate optimally”.

Indian corporates are looking for hybrid solutions that not only help bring their employees back to offices but also optimise real estate costs. As companies start to divest their real estate portfolios, the future is about a distributed workforce and flexible office spaces. In the backdrop of this highly insightful survey report, we are happy to announce our entry into a dynamic Indian market helping organizations with hybrid solutions based on behaviours, work styles, activities and spaces, he added”.

Some of the key highlights of the survey are:

52% of respondents said working from home may impact them negatively in terms of being on a slower career trajectory, having less learning opportunities, and generally being on a the lower scale of efficiency.

When asked about their ideal ‘office working model, a significant 32% of respondents opted for a model wherein 50-75% of all employees come to the office on a rotational basis at a medium frequency (approx. once a week), as per requirement. Only 12% opted for indefinite work from home for all, while only 9% opted for regular office days for all.

On average, the respondents would like to visit the office 2.6 days a week, which is quite a significant period of the working week.

For junior executives, the average the desired number of days is 2.2 while for senior executives, it is 3.1.

In general, male employees prefer to visit the office for a larger chunk of the week (3.3 days on average), while female employees remain more skeptical (2 days)

For 78% of respondents, one of the primary concerns with returning to office is the health concern from a COVID perspective. For 41% of respondents, the safety aspect of the commute is a top concern