The results are in!
Thank you to everyone who participated in our quick pulse check survey about you and your team’s working conditions last week. We were overwhelmed with responses so we think the results give a good indication of the current state of play.
Whilst we’ve noticed an increase in the number of people out and about in the Sydney CBD, our survey results reflected that the majority of HR teams are still working from home most of the time (60%). In the foreseeable future, the results showed that preference is to work in a flexible / hybrid way, combining time spent at home and in the office with only 9% preferring to return to the office full-time. The responses also reflected that the morale and productivity of people’s teams seemed to be best when a combination of working from home and in the office was achieved.
You can view the results in the slideshow below.
Our last question was around whether or not you felt that things would ever go back to the way they were. Overwhelmingly respondents felt we’d never go back to exactly how things were and some of the comments that stood out were:
“Not working in the office full time, that is still some months away, if ever. Which is actually good, it has normalised WFH in an environment where it wasn’t really the accepted thing to do unless you had special permission or were part of the Executive. Myself and my colleagues would like to continue with a combination of office and WFH permanently and are hoping our organisation has come to terms with this new normal.”
“It will be important that things do not go back to the way they were. The pandemic has represented the opportunity to debunk myths about home and office workings, and create a permission space for genuine flexibility that is so critical to enabling true diversity in workplaces and sending important signals to challenge societal norms. Every employer has a responsibility to make sure these gains are not lost in a reversion to what is easy/easier. Whether an employer is genuinely flexible will become a key issue for people when choosing future employers in the future.”
“Probably not but it won’t be the same as it is now either. The future is probably a blend of both working from the office and home. Those organisations who have told their people that they never need to come back to the office have made that call too early and risk “snapping back” in the future. The social and collaboration benefits of having people together in the same space are enormous. So we need to support people’s need to work together and individually at work and at home.”
“Things will not go back for a very long time. I think we have a good 3 years of living in the covid safe environment (even with a vaccine it depends on people actually taking it and no one I know wants to be in the first round of dosage) so habits will become ingrained. I think it will take a new generation to determine that the office is the place to be – if at all. I think companies will also capitalise on cost savings with people not permanently in the offices so won’t be insistent on people going back 5 days a week.”
Thank you again to everyone who participated.
