iBridge, Business Brio, and the Data Science Foundation (DSF) introduced a “New Work World” survey during the DSF’s 8th International Summit. The survey is designed to gather both observations and expectations as the world begins to consider returning to a “new normal” of the office.
The survey, administered on the Metolius® platform, found that the majority of workers have real concerns about safety in the workplace and plan to work more from home than in the office. Employees want the comfort in knowing that when they enter an office environment, they expect their organizations to have taken the necessary precautions to keep them safe. These precautions include sanitizing work areas, appropriate distancing, room occupancy limitations, and common area restrictions.
Based on the survey’s findings, 65% of workers pre-COVID worked more than 80% of the time in an office, however in the post-COVID world only 16% of respondents expect to work more than 80% in an office.
With 78% of the survey respondents saying they expect to have complete flexibility and choice regarding their work location options, they also acknowledged a significant concern (89%) that innovation and new ideas will be harder to hatch. Most share the concern that based on an expanding hybrid workforce that collaborative meetings will be hard to assemble. This is followed by the concern that if there is lack of human interaction that it could impact staff turnover negatively. As well the respondents share a concern for managers not knowing how to coach and motivate a both in-office and remote workforce.
The number of days anticipated to be “in-office” certainly supports that assertion. When comparing how common it was to work remotely pre-COVID, 21% of the respondents said they worked more than three days per week outside of the office; post-COVID, 64% of the respondents expect to work more than three days outside of an office. The early results of the New Work World survey suggest the post-COVID work environment will be evolutional and fraught with changes in business process and cultural norms.
This ongoing survey is designed to explore and understand how well organizations are prepared to manage and support the workforce post-COVID. Please visit www.metolius.ibridgellc.com/nww to take this free survey.
There are two versions of the survey, each designed to take less than 15 minutes to complete. One survey is designed to ask senior leaders and leaders and managers about their organization’s preparation for the post-COVID workforce, the other is designed to capture observations, experience, anticipation and expectations from the workforce.
Both intelligent questionnaires provide an immediate report, including benchmarks, based on six primary outcomes: collaboration, communication, work-life balance, leadership competence, client/customer interaction, experience, and office protocols.