Smart work environment

New global study by Barco ClickShare reveals that employees worldwide are desperate to get back to the office and are looking for their employers to invest in a technology-driven hybrid working environment post-COVID-19

A major survey of white-collar workers around the world, published today by Barco, global leader in visualisation and collaboration solutions, has revealed surprising findings about employee expectations for the workplace in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study – which surveyed 1,750 employees around the world (250 each from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, India and United Arab Emirates) through global research panel provider Dynata – found that only 15% of employees want to continue to work from home fulltime after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Nearly half of those surveyed said they enjoy working from home less now than they did at the start of the pandemic, citing challenges in collaborating with colleagues, struggling to contribute to meetings and missing the social side of office life as the main reasons for wanting to return to the office.

Instead, employees want a hybrid workplace model, where most of their time is spent in the office but they have the flexibility and freedom to work from home when it works best for them or suits the type of work they need to do. The survey found the ideal balance on average globally to be 3 days in the office, with a maximum of 2 days a week working remotely.