Slowly, WFH Fatigue is Setting In Among Some Employees

When JLL surveyed workers in April 2020, people said they want to work from home two days a week. When it asked the same question of 3,300 employees this March, people said they wanted to work 1.5 days from home. A third of workers have no desire to work from home.

But that wasn’t the only finding supporting the idea that work from home fatigue may be setting in. Last year, 48% of respondents said they were more productive at home than in the office. That number fell to 37% this year. Still, 88% want to choose their working hours. JLL also found at least 75% of workers missed being in the office at least part of the time and 80% prefer a hybrid approach.

JLL found that the sweet spot for feeling engaged was being in the office at least three days a week. If employees are home longer than that, the survey found that engagement starts to tail off and anxiety about the future can increase

As sentiment shifts, companies have begun bringing workers back to the office to spur collaboration and innovation. Still, they want to keep schedules loose, according to JLL. In this environment, companies that want to boost productivity will need workplaces that have creative spaces for brainstorming, areas dedicated to learning and development, or spaces connected with nature, among other things.

Not every employee will be looking for the same thing. Some will want a focused space to work and younger associates will need networking opportunities.

So, it won’t be easy to come up with an effective hybrid work strategy. “While the notion of hybrid work is great in theory, putting it into practice is no small task,” says Cynthia Kantor, chief product officer, corporate solutions, JLL. “But the companies that can keep employees engaged and committed are going to win the war for talent.”

Despite an unemployment rate much higher than a couple of years ago, there is still a battle for top talent.

Another recent survey shows that 100% remote work probably won’t be realistic for most employees.

In a recent Cushman & Wakefield and CoreNet Global survey of 339 people from over a dozen countries, respondents indicated that 100 percent remote work is not ideal for most employees. Pre-pandemic, 59% of respondents described their company’s approach to work as office first. Post-pandemic, that number dropped to 10% as 58% of respondents indicated that they wanted to go to an office-first hybrid. After the pandemic, only 18% of respondents said that “mostly working in company offices” described their approach.

“We see a real opportunity for smart employers to transform the workplace experience with flexible options for employees by offering a variety of locations and experiences to support convenience, functionality and well-being,” said Despina Katsikakis, global leader of Cushman & Wakefield’s Total Workplace Global Lead in a prepared statement.