Two-Thirds of UK and Irish Employees are Reluctant to Return to the Office, Study Shows
Monday, 1st November 2021
A new study from Unispace shows 67% of employees in the UK and Ireland don’t want to return to the workplace.
93% say that improvements to their workplace would encourage them to return.
The research comes as one fifth of British employees say they are unclear whether they will be expected to work onsite, at home, or both in the future.
Employees are reluctant to return to work right now
Office layout, commuting costs and times, and a lack of workplace amenities all play a role. But according to new research by Unispace, over two thirds of employees in the UK and Ireland—or 67%—report feeling reluctant to return to the office.
This was one of the highest proportions of any European countries surveyed.
The study surveyed 3,000 employees in the UK and Ireland to get their views on returning to work after COVID-19. It also polled 2,750 employers in leadership roles at businesses with over fifty staff and interviewed global leaders in human resources, operations, and real estate.
Perhaps the most surprising thing was that 71% of employers themselves reported not wanting to return to work.
Why? The reasons behind the reluctance were varied. 41% of respondents said they appreciated the extra time they had without commuting—while 31% said the cost of travel was an important factor.
Significantly, though, a massive 93% of respondents said they would like to see changes to the workplace. A quarter (25%) said they would create more private areas in the office, while a further 23% would improve the layout and 22% would add more amenities.
The context of uncertainty
This research comes as employees report a climate of uncertainty around their future in the office.
According to other recent research commissioned by the Project Management Institute (PMI), one in five UK employees do not know whether they’ll be required in the future to work from home, in-office, or a mix of both.
35% of employees said they were more productive in the office, while 36% worked better at home. Only 29% said a hybrid arrangement was best for them.
Similarly, the PMI study revealed that only 31% of British employees want to return to the office full time—with 34% preferring a mix and 35% wanting to work at home exclusively.
“As organisations navigate a new work ecosystem in the wake of COVID-19, an opportunity has emerged for employers to renew their focus on culture and leverage new technology, tools, and training to strengthen the capabilities of their teams,” said Ashwini Bakshi, PMI’s Managing Director of Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa.
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