Liquid Workforce: Can Real Estate Keep Up With Office Space And Work-From-Home Needs?

Interesting story: after surveying more than 2,000 office workers across 10 countries, the commercial real estate firm JLL reports the future of the workplace will be hybrid, “mixing on-site and off-site collaboration to offer freedom and choice across a variety of spaces and locations.”

In other words, employees still want to go into the office, but not as much. They want access to an office. But they also want to do more work from home (WFH).

From the report:

Employees are eager to maintain the flexibility of widespread remote work established during the pandemic and are interested in working from home an average of two days per week. This hybrid approach is the most sought after, with nearly three-quarters of employees wanting to have access to an office. Further, JLL’s earlier Human Performance report found that 80 percent of high performers have missed their office greatly during lockdown.

As we know, COVID-19 forced massive changes in technology, media and the work world. Says Flore Pradère, Research Director at JLL Corporate Solutions Research:

“To adapt to this new normal, the future of work must be reimagined to focus on the needs and preferences of a liquid workforce. This means offering employee-centric solutions that value choice and flexibility to optimize employee experiences and performance.”

How will home design accommodate this? For one thing we learned, as the pandemic took root back in the spring, that home offices would become real places for work: that “pretty desk room” off the foyer won’t cut it. Neither will his-and-hers desks. Many have invested in at-home broadcast equipment and lighting to improve those daily Zooms. Homeowners with enough elbow room are taking over extra bedrooms and guest houses.

So we want to know, what are you seeing in the field? What are buyers looking for in home office space NOW? Because, as this study points out, the change is real and is upon us.