The workplace has undergone a series of major changes in the past few years. Most of these changes began with the public health lockdowns at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a sudden, dramatic increase in the frequency of remote work. When the lockdowns ended, the contentious “return to work” debate began. But now, almost 3 years after the start of the pandemic, research shows that remote work has again become a rarity, with 80% of the world’s leading organizations now working in a hybrid manner, and that’s unlikely to change.
The future of work and the workplace can be complicated and hard to predict. That’s why, in this blog, we’re sharing our predictions for the future, which are based on exclusive industry analysis from the experts at Gartner.
4 Predictions For the Coming Year and Beyond
1. “By 2024, organizations with a persistent cross-functional team tasked with workplace experience strategy will be 80% more likely to have high employee satisfaction with the workplace.” – Gartner
According to research from HqO, a growing number of corporate real estate leaders have started to build out their workplace experience teams. That’s because more and more industry leaders have begun to recognize the financial benefits that come from an improved workplace experience, including decreased turnover costs, higher employee productivity, and improved NOI.
2. “By 2025, corporate workspace allocation will flip from 70% individual workstations and 30% collaborative space to 30% individual and 70% collaborative space.” – Gartner
According to the 2023 State of Workplace Experience report, collaborative workspaces like meeting rooms are still significantly important to today’s employees. Research from Gartner supports these findings, and even goes a step further: according to their projections, 70% of corporate workspace allocation will be devoted to collaborative space by 2025. This is a radical shift from the pre-pandemic allocation, where only 30% of workspaces were designed to enable collaborative work.
3. “By 2025, less than 5% of desk workers will prefer to work from a corporate workplace full-time, down from 17% in 2021.” – Gartner
Gartner projects that the frequency of 5 days per week in-person work will continue to fall. This projection corresponds with data from Leesman and other industry sources, which have widely registered the falling prevalence of full-time in-person work.
4. “By 2027, 80% of millennial workers will prefer to spend their time in various workplaces rather than full-time remote or full-time work from the office, up from 61% in 2021.” – Gartner
As office occupancy rates continue to rise, remote-only positions have started to vanish; according to the Washington Post, only 15% of jobs posted to LinkedIn in October 2022 were listed as remote—that’s down from 21% in March of the same year. In place of remote work, hybrid work is on the rise: according to Gartner, 80% of today’s leading organizations have already adopted hybrid work. As a result, Gartner projects that a large majority of younger workers will prefer to spend their time in several office locations. This projection underscores the time-sensitive imperative to optimize the office for hybrid work. It also shows industry leaders how critical it is to reevaluate their understanding of employee needs, behaviors, and preferences. Hybrid employees might be working from your office on a given day—but they might also be working from home, from a coffee shop, or from another location entirely. This means that the needs of hybrid workers are both highly-individualized, and highly-susceptible to change.
To Weather Uncertainty, Build a Better Workplace Experience
Building Engines Prism recently found that 96% of property teams are looking to maintain or expand their spending on workplace experience software. This again signals that workplace decision-makers will continue to acquire new workplace experience technology throughout the coming year, even as economic uncertainty looms.
Corporate real estate leaders are continuing to spend on workplace experience technology in 2023 because they understand that an improved workplace experience brings tangible business results. By improving employee satisfaction, employers save on turnover costs and increase productivity. According to AON, for example, an improved workplace experience can increase profitability by 21%.
HqO helps high-performing companies weather uncertainty by improving employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity. That’s why HqO is used by 57% of the Fortune 100.
Want to learn more about HqO and the future of the workplace? Download the free 2023 State of Workplace Experience report today.
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HqO, ranked No. 75 on the Inc. 5000 list, is transforming how people connect with each other and the places they work. The HqO Workplace Experience Platform makes it easy for companies and commercial property teams to create modern workplaces through world-class amenities and services that allow people to thrive and produce the best results. Active in over 250 million square feet in 25 countries, 57% of the Fortune 100 rely on HqO to enhance their workplace experiences, improve employee satisfaction, and drive operational excellence. For more information, visit www.hqo.com.
Gartner Objectivity Disclaimer: Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
