69%

of office workers prefer brainstorms to be in person.

Employees thrive when they spend 23% to 40% of their time in the office, studies show. Even when in the office, people rarely interact with those outside their immediate proximity. In the pursuit of greater connection and culture, companies may want to consider removing some or even all desks in favor of a diversity of spaces. Heads-down work can be done effectively at home, so office real estate might best be adapted for collaboration, culture and knowledge sharing.

Embrace the 40% office

29%

of employers surveyed who implemented a forced return to the office policy also revealed that they are finding it harder to recruit.

Workplaces should be somewhere that employees enjoy spending time or where they can take part in compelling events and activities. Create hospitality-oriented workplaces to better attract, engage and retain talent by taking a cue from hospitality, viewing employees as valued guests. Design more modular spaces that can adapt to changes in work patterns from week to week. Provide an efficient, digital way to organize hybrid work patterns and preferences.

Develop multi-purpose spaces

NAVIGATING THE WORLD OF HYBRID WORK

A place of work is about more than where people are — be it in the office or at home. Whether it's two, three or four days a week, employees now spend far less time working at the office than they did before the pandemic, according to the McKinsey Global Institute's "Empty Spaces and Hybrid Places" report. Despite return-to-office mandates, many employees have shown a preference for a hybrid work schedule, which has been adapted by 90% of the organizations surveyed by McKinsey. Here are five ways everyone can approach the new hybrid work world.

Photo by John R. Boehm for Crain's Chicago Business

By Cassandra West

Too much focus on building amenities (on-site cafeteria, for example), and not enough on what the surrounding area offers, may leave employees feeling cloistered. A work-from-home study observed that employees working remotely in the same city often convened organically to discuss work and socialize, underscoring the value of time together. To reinforce this natural tendency, companies may consider a loose office model with clusters of satellite locations that could be storefronts, co-working spaces, or any number of informal meeting places like cafes or parks that change according to need.

Rethink geography

of office workers stated that meetings with supervisors or managers should be face-to-face.

60%

For many people the word office means drudgery, conformity, rows of people performing mundane tasks. As simple as it sounds, try using another word for the place where productivity takes place. For example, studio, atelier, workshop, day house or co-lab. Taking a fresh and even playful approach to the workplace could help employees feel more positively toward where they spend so much time.

Rebrand 'the office'

of office workers want one-on-one meetings in the office.

62%

Employees will default to staying home if they don't have a clear reason to be in an office. For many, commuting costs them time and money. Employers need to give employees motivation to spend time commuting. Mentorship and collaboration are two big reasons for being in person. Mentorship increases by 25% when people come together face to face, research shows. "Some employees are also simply more extrinsically motivated and thrive working around colleagues, while others are more intrinsically motivated and productive working from home," says hybrid expert Gleb Tsipursky.