Colorado-Real-Estate-Journal_377665

Page 10 — Office & Industrial Quarterly — December 2023 www.crej.com OFFICE — WORKPL ACE Proven Solutions and Services - We Get the Job Done Right Connect with us. EncoreElectric.com 303-934-1234 I n the four years since the start of the global pandemic, work and workers have permanently changed at all scales. Employers quickly transitioned data to the cloud to enable remote work, teams leveraged technology to collaborate virtually across geographies and time zones, and individuals learned how, where and when they work best – both solo and with each other. Now, we are starting to see new work pat- terns emerge. n The factors driving the gap between what employees say and do. We found an interesting gap in our 2023 global workplace research study of 14,000 office workers across nine countries and 10 industries: Employ- ees were coming into the office half of their time but say they ideally needed the office two-thirds of a typi- cal work week for their productivity. We uncovered that employees would be willing to return more often for a new mix of experi- ences. This fall, we con- ducted an explor- atory research study of 4,000 remote and office workers in six major U.S. cities to better understand the emerging factors in employees’ work and life that impact how and why they use the office. We found the gap between what office workers say and do still exists, and we uncovered the individual and team nuances that will impact how we design offices in the future. The full report is posted on www. gensler.com. The following are a few insights: n Unique life factors impact how and where employees work. As indi- viduals, we have unique backgrounds, experiences, life stages and lives out- side of the workplace. Understanding an employee’s life helps make sense of their decisions for how they cur- rently use the office and what they ideally need. • Generation: Younger generations have the largest gap in what they say and do. Gen Z and millennials come into the office 43% and 44%, respec- tively, but say they ideally need the office 64% to 65% of a typical week. More than their older counterparts, they value the office to focus on their work, socialize with colleagues, be part of a community and for profes- sional development/coaching. • Life stage: Workers living with children under the age of 12 report a preference for full and extended days in the office beyond 9-to-5, while office workers living with children above the age of 12 have a stronger preference for partial days. Adults who live alone mostly schedule full days in the office but would prefer partial days or to come in only for specific meetings. • Commute: Office workers with 45-minute or longer commutes cur- rently come into the office the least, but the majority stay for full or extended days. Those who live less than 15 minutes from the office go in 63% of the time but ideally need to be there slightly less. n Distributed work and team types impact how workers perceive the office. How we work and what we do impacts the need to work in the office to maximize both individual and team productivity. This varies by industry; media and technology come in least but say they need the office most, while legal, not-for-profit, and government/defense report needing the office less than they currently do. • Distributed work: Working across multiple time zones seems to be a particular barrier to coming into the office as much as workers ideally need. Employees who work across different time zones most come into the office least and have a preference for partial or extended days in the office. • Type of team: Some 98% of office workers are team based. Functional teams (working primarily within their department) and project-based teams Why office workers say one thing but do another Janet Pogue McLaurin Global Director Workplace Research, Gensler Gen Z and millen- nials come into the office 43% and 44%, respectively, but say they ideally need the office 64% to 65% of a typical week.