AT chats to Catherine van der Heide, principal at Hassell, about the link between office transformation and employee satisfaction revealed in the practice’s annual workplace survey.

Photo by Freddie Ardley

What are the main findings from the Great Adaptations – 2023 Workplace Futures Survey?
More people are now working from the office, while the number of people working full-time from home is declining. Hybrid working has remained relatively stable. One of biggest findings is that companies that have changed their offices and ways of working since the pandemic have a 17 per cent higher satisfaction score among employees than those that haven’t. My takeaway from this is that people are looking for an understanding within their own organisation that ways of working have shifted and therefore so have employee needs.

What kinds of changes have companies been instigating to improve employee satisfaction?
It seems to depend a lot on a company’s management style, growth trajectory and industry. The most common change is adding technology, particularly to improve hybrid meetings. There are also a lot of changes involving spatial modifications, including the addition of new meeting rooms or social areas. Complementing this transformation of interior spaces is an increase of programmes to improve social connection when people are physically together, such as providing free food or more outdoor space to strengthen teams bonds.

To accommodate hybrid work, many of these changes involve adapting offices designed before the pandemic, which often entails re-proportioning how space is utilised, for example reduction of individual owned desks to accommodate team-based settings; and integrating frictionless technologies for hybrid meetings. We found that the way change is managed is equally critical. On average, organisations that provide support and training around any changes they make achieve a 12 per cent higher workplace satisfaction score. That’s quite a significant jump and not to be overlooked if organisations are seeking to maximise the effects of the changes they’re implementing.

Did the survey respondents say why they were favouring office-based work over remote working?
There are essentially three main reasons: it’s easier to communicate, they feel more productive, and the technology is better. While this sounds simple, many organisations don’t get these basics right, and as a result their employees are more likely to choose hybrid or remote working. When asked about the most desirable work amenities, respondents favoured green spaces, good coffee, and grocery stores; perhaps amenities all easily found (or desired) in the home or at least in our neighbourhoods.

Grocery stores aren’t an amenity you’d typically associate with an office development.
That’s true. You’re much more likely to find cafes, bars, restaurants and retail within office podiums. But given the cost-of-living crisis, a grocery store provides people with somewhere to buy a cheap lunch and to pick up something fresh on their way home. This can make commuting more worthwhile by pairing it with a trip that already had to be made.

Were there any particular surprises amongst the survey’s findings?
With some people predicting a downturn, we assumed employers would have more leverage to get people back to the office. But this does not appear to be the case. In the current job market, those most worried about their jobs are not returning in great numbers. So changes in ways of working is also unlikely to return to pre-pandemic norms.

Lastly, what was the survey methodology?
We surveyed 3,500 people in Australia, Belgium, China, the Netherlands, Singapore, the UK and the US about their current work life. The respondents came via a third-party research firm that was tasked with ensuring a representative mix of knowledge workers in each country. They all work in an office building or do work that would have been done there before the pandemic. Our next survey is currently being crafted to respond to changes in our home and work lives over the last year, as well as looking ahead to where the world of work is heading. We look forward to sharing our findings for 2024 soon.

Click here to download the Great Adaptations – 2023 Workplace Futures Survey.