Few employees want to work exclusively from the office anymore, Slack survey shows

Dive Brief:

•     As HR departments determine what work will look like after the COVID-19 pandemic, only 12% of global knowledge workers in a survey by workplace communication platform Slack said they intend to go back to working exclusively from an office.
  
  
•     The company, which polled more than 9,000 self-identified "skilled office workers" in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Japan and Australia, found 72% wanted a combination of office-based work and remote work moving forward. More than 50% of respondents said their work-life balance was better as a result of the shift to remote work.
  
  
•     Other benefits cited by respondents included the elimination of commutes and increased savings. But more than one-third of respondents said their sense of belonging at work was worse as a result of remote work, while others faced challenges in building relationships with colleagues, being aware of others` work and dealing with isolation and loneliness, Slack said.

The survey results point to a variety of trends observed by others in recent months. Gartner, for example, found in July that 80% of surveyed company leaders planned to allow employees to work remotely at least partly after reopening...
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RSK: I can see this. A mix but I believe collaboration will still be very important...and that is real face to face time....not just face time.

Ken Notes: Companies will need a new metric to see how productive employees are from home. If they can do this home may be a good thing, but again every employee will find their sweet spot in a slightly different environment...