The issue of remote work divides managers and employees of corporations into two almost equal groups. Some say that working outside the office gives more efficiency, while others believe that the real work is in the office and if they do not see their employees, it means that they do not work. Cushman & Wakefield and Antal in their latest report entitled „Flexibility of specialists and managers on the labour market” look at employees’ preferences and expectations towards work models.

We work according to the system created in 1817 by Robert Oowen, who proposed 8 hours a day for work, 8 hours for recreation and 8 hours for rest. Initially, his idea was ridiculed by competing entrepreneurs. In 1868, the 8-hour working day was introduced in the United States, but it only included federal employees, m.in officials. The real revolution began in 1914, when Henry Ford doubled the daily workforce for employees, and the factory shift was reduced to 8 hours. The opposition from the competition was enormous, but when it turned out that the result was not a disaster, and the increase in productivity and profits from 30 to 60 million dollars, other companies changed their employment policy within two years.

There are many arguments for and against remote work, it has as many opponents as supporters. However, research clearly shows that combining work from the office and home is the future. Already, most companies implement a 2-on-3 scheme, which means that depending on the company, we work 2 days at home and 3 days in the office, or vice versa. What more progressive companies do not designate a permanent place of work at all, you can only work remotely. These scenarios mean that more and more office workers, who can do their jobs wherever they are, will want flexibility in this regard. Work is not born in a vacuum, let’s just look at the socio-economic environment. Flats all over Poland are becoming more expensive. Hardly anyone can afford to buy an apartment in the city center, from where there is an excellent commute to work. On the contrary, more and more often we live further and further away from work, which disturbs the 8-hour circadian rhythm. For many, everyday life before March 2020 was commuting to work lasting an hour and another hour back. Of course, you can read books, listen to podcasts and even reply to business messages during this time.

„Somewhat forced remote work has shown unconvinced companies that the world does not turn upside down when employees perform their tasks from home. They are often even more engaged or effective. For many ordinary Poles, it is important how much time they spend commuting. So either let’s start planning cities properly or let’s implement a hybrid model of work. – says Dominika Kowalska, Associate, Workplace Strategy, Office Department, Cushman & Wakefield.

For meetings, professionals and managers strongly prefer an office to a home or other place from which they could connect online. Respondents note the need to build engagement through face-to-face contacts, especially in the case of brainstorming in a team (59%), external meetings with a potential client (57%) and internal meetings within the company (56%). In the case of individual and creative work, respondents prefer to perform their duties from home – 78% and 56%, respectively.

– Employers prefer a stationary work system to a remote system, however, in order to introduce it, while ensuring employee satisfaction, they need to modify the office space, as 86% of specialists and managers expect offices to become more flexible and provide employees with a quick change of places depending on their tasks. – says Jan Szulborski, Senior Consultant, Consulting & Research, Cushman & Wakefield.

Flexible space is a challenge. It is a combination of many technical and technological solutions, and above all perspective design, towards multifunctional spaces, the so-called multi-purpose, offering appropriately selected types of space and solutions for a given company and its employees, instead of offering the entire available range of different spaces to choose from. The ideal office space should easily adapt to changing environmental conditions and be tailored to the specific preferences and work style of all its users and entire teams in a given company.

Compared to the previous edition of the report, it is worth noting that the percentage of responses decided that greater opportunities for remote work in the organization should be provided has increased, and offices should be more flexible and provide a quick change of places for employees depending on the tasks performed – in both cases an increase of 10 percentage points. Interestingly, 13 percentage points more respondents note the need to perform social functions in the office – exchange of views, organization of meetings, etc. On the other hand, almost 10 percentage points more respondents say that an office is not necessary to effectively perform work.

Source: Cushman & Wakefield https://kadry.infor.pl/kadry/hrm/zarzadzanie/5367447,Hybrydowy-model-pracy.html

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.