According to our recent market research of UK office workers, the average person who travels to the office five days a week spends almost 13 days a year commuting. While arguably pre-pandemic, commuting was a part of everyday life, the last two years has inevitably changed peoples’ priorities; they have come to enjoy some of the advantages of home working, perhaps not available to them before.
It’s clear that hybrid working is here to stay, but our research shows that the office is very much still needed and wanted. In fact, the majority of people we spoke with want to work from the office for more time each week than they want to work from home, and a quarter would still prefer to be in the office full-time.
That said, with the battle to attract and retain the very best talent tougher than ever, the market has firmly shifted in favour of employees when it comes to workplace demands and office design. Gone are the days where people go into the office purely to work – the pandemic has enabled most to do this from home. For many, travelling into their office is so they can connect with colleagues, collaborate, and feel part of a team. It’s important that organisations recognise this shift and update their office designs accordingly. People now expect more than just a traditional workplace and organisations must react and raise the bar if they want to succeed.

• How can you make the commute worth it for your people?
• Do you know what your employees actually want from their office?
• Have you asked your team what is important to them?
• How can you create a culture and workplace environment which encourages people into the office, where the commute is not seen as a chore?
• How can you capitalise on the new opportunities created by the post-pandemic hybrid working model?’

Based on new research, our latest report, ‘Is your workplace worth the commute?’ reveals what employees really want from their office in a post-pandemic world: the three Cs – Comfort, choice, culture. It also explores issues that are top of the agenda including attracting and retaining talent, and employee health and wellbeing. Download the full report for free here.