Executives think work should be split 70:30 between office and home

A new survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit backs up the most commonly cited form of ‘hybrid working’ by claiming that business executives on average think work should be split 70 percent / 30 percent between the office and home respectively.  In A changed workplace after covid-19, published  by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Kyocera Document Solutions, the authors argue that Covid-19 was a watershed moment in the way we work.

Two in three (66.7 percent) of the 360 respondents in the survey said working from home or remote work is likely to continue in some form. The most preferred working from home ratio expressed by respondents is 30 percent home and 70 percent office.

Myriad factors are responsible for the different outcomes vis-à-vis productivity, the most important of which—our survey reveals—are the size of the company and the nature of its business. This is true across geographies, suggesting that what one does has a greater impact on productivity than where one lives. This was consistent in the findings of a much higher percentage of respondents in the financial industry (61.3 percent) reporting a productivity increase, compared with the overall percentage reporting such an increase (38.9 percent).

Technology has played an instrumental role in allowing work to continue uninterrupted through the pandemic and will continue to do so, pointing to the importance of businesses to invest in the necessary digital infrastructure and tools to support their employees.

Naka Kondo, senior editor at The EIU and editor of the report, says, “Remote work is likely to continue well beyond the pandemic in some form or another. Our research reveals organisations that have successfully adopted technology have had a better experience with employee productivity. It’s crucial to note also that the top contributing factor to productivity decrease was the “difficulty in collaborating with team members”, signalling that the value of in-person interactions can never be replaced. While nothing certain can yet to be said of the future workplace, we hope the survey findings provide insight into the steps we could be taking in reimagining the ways we work”.

Visit reshapingproductivity.economist.com for the full report and related content.