As much as workers have enjoyed the benefits of telecommuting, many wouldn’t mind returning to the office — as soon as possible.
After a year of working from home amid the Covid-19 outbreak, employees miss in-person conversations most of all, according to a recent report by management consultancy Seyfarth at Work.
Lunches and happy hours with colleagues, more daily structure and fewer interruptions by children also ranked high in the poll of more than 500 workers from companies of all sizes conducted between January and February.
“People loved the cooperative feeling of being in a workplace with colleagues,” said Philippe Weiss, president of Seyfarth at Work.
“What was surprising was that even 16% said they missed the commute,” Weiss noted.
That’s the moment they can transition in and out of the workday, he said, underscoring the loss of boundaries between work and home in the last year.
“What the pandemic has crystalized is that everyone is looking at their own work and their own families and how the two are interrelated,” he added.
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Already, there is a lot of discussion about who will be required to return to the office and when.
More than half of employees said that, given the option, they would want to keep working from home even after the coronavirus crisis subsides at least part of the time, according to a separate survey by the Pew Research Center.
Going forward, many companies have said they may adopt some sort of flexible weekly schedule, according to another report from The Conference Board.
