In our fifth podcast of the “Rebalancing the Work-Life Experience” series we review the successes and challenges of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation of the discussion comes from the results of our bespoke Experience per Square FootTM (XSF@home) database, which contains over 1.7 million data points from more than 50,000 respondents and allows us to provide unrivalled insights into how employees are coping right now. We specifically focus on issues such as wellbeing, culture and connectivity which are likely to be impacted in the current environment.
Key takeaways of this podcast are:
- Employees can be productive anywhere, not just at the office. During the pandemic, productive team collaboration has reached new heights using remote collaboration technology. Furthermore, individual focus has remained strong.
- Although team collaboration has been a success, the move to remote working has impacted
people’s ability to connect with one another on a more personal level. This also flows into weaker connection to company culture and challenges for learning and development. - Flexibility and choice to work from anywhere is accelerating, with the vast majority of employees believing that their company should embrace some level of working from home. Positively, employees fell trusted by their manager to carry out their role remotely.
Given these findings, companies are faced with a tremendous opportunity to reimagine the purpose of the office as an inspiring destination to strengthen cultural connection, learning and bonding. As companies move to greater acceptance of remote working policies for their employees, there is an imperative to recognize that the workplace is no longer a single location but an ecosystem of a variety of locations and experiences to support convenience, functionality and wellbeing.
The Future of Workplace: How will COVID-19 and data shape the new workplace ecosystem? Read the Report.
