Only 8% of Employees Want to WFH All the Time

As Covid-19 continues to dominate news cycles, the world of work continues to evolve. We took to LinkedIn to discover the UK’s preferred post-pandemic work set up – and as it turns out, only 8% of employees want to work from home five days a week.

The global on-set of Covid-19 led to a stint of lockdown-induced working from home across the UK. Soon, the novelty of a cancelled commute and our subsequent work-life balance invited many to question the necessity of the office.

All of a sudden, the office was viewed as cost, easily replaced by employees’ own kitchen tables and (for many young professionals in big UK cities) bedrooms. Tech giants made headlines with WFH announcements, while others decided to hang tight.

Weeks went by. Slowly, our love for our makeshift offices – which reached the creative heights of ironing board desks – started to wane. We started getting Zoom fatigue, battling ‘WFH burnout’ and craving some kind of experiential variety, while our hunger for human connection led us to wave goodbye on video calls. We were no longer working from home. We were living at work.

As lockdown was eased, a balance started to emerge. Not only could we return to work, but we really wanted to. A survey by the Evening Standard found that 80% of employees “missed interacting with colleagues”. The ‘death of the office’ narrative stopped being so binary.

In an interview about the worries and wins of businesses on the hunt for office space, Francesca Cooper-Isow, Senior Surveyor in Knight Frank’s Flexible Office Solutions team, explained: “Businesses are moving away from knee-jerk reactions and are really starting to examine what they need. Ultimately, the office isn’t a cost, it’s a way to invest in staff, wellbeing, retention and productivity, and that’s certainly the case for businesses that are thinking long-term.”

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Slowly, our love for our makeshift offices – which reached the creative heights of ironing board desks – started to wane. We started getting Zoom fatigue, battling ‘WFH burnout’ and craving some kind of experiential variety.

Amanda Lim

Head of Flexible Office Solutions

Poll: Where would you prefer to work once the pandemic subsides?

Following Boris Johnson’s most recent announcement that employees should once again work from home if they can, we wanted to find out whether the WFH vs. The Office debate was set to resurface the way it did before.

In Knight Frank’s first LinkedIn poll, we asked:

Five days in the office — Yay or nay?

With Covid-19 dominating news cycles, the speculation of a ‘permanent #WFH’ has become a much-discussed by-product.

So, we want to hear your take on your preferred post-pandemic working set-up. #Vote and share your thoughts in the comments below.

The poll welcomed 2,134 responses – the majority of which were in favour of a post-pandemic work environment to include a blend of working from home and working at the office.

Just 8% of respondents said they wanted to WFH all the time, dispelling the ‘death of the office’ debate, while 12% said they wanted to work in the office five days a week. Meanwhile, 79% of respondents said they wanted their working lives to involve a blend of WFH and the office, indicating how important it is for business leaders to provide employees with the choice. 

Commenting on the poll, Paul Adler, Senior Sales Manager at Tom James UK, explained: “I am back in the office three to four days a week. It’s much better to mentor younger team members and to feel part of a team…[and] I feel much better [with] the separation between work and home. [But], it is nice to have some flexibility to see family and travel at different times of the day.”

Other respondents seconded this, with one in particular commenting that it’s the younger generation of employees who have been disadvantaged by working from home as they are most in need of the ‘accidental learning’ that takes place through chance encounters and overhearing conversations, which are crucial for employee development. There are careers that cannot be built in a remote-only environment – even with the best technology in the world.

David Grimble, Programme Success Manager at Ford Motor Company, also explained: “The majority of my role is working remotely with global teams, so being office-based is less critical for me. Even so, I look forward to being face to face with my team once again. I just hope a new wave of flexibility is embraced to allow a mixture of WFH [and] the office [for] the mutual benefit of both employer and employee.”

So, while the pandemic has certainly impacted our world of work, it’s re-imagined the office’s purpose, catalysed the trend of flexible working and highlighted the productivity – and wellbeing – power of meeting face to face. 

It seems the UK is in agreement that exclusively WFH isn’t sustainable for long-term business objectives around company culture, training and development and innovation, which is why many businesses – even if they’re choosing to downsize – are opting to have a central hub for employees to use flexibly.

Whether you’re downsizing, upsizing or figuring out which type of office space is right for your business, we’re here to help.