The hybrid office model combining on-site and remote work is increasingly popular.  But employers who adopt it face an enormous challenge:  They must determine how to balance health and safety, productivity, cost-savings, and employee satisfaction.  It's an exceptionally difficult balance to attain and there's no historical precedent to follow, but data can help guide decisions.  

The MRI Software Market Insights team has been gathering such data from landlords, office tenants, and employees through surveys we've conducted with CoreNet and with Brivo, a provider of cloud access control and related technologies.  The findings tell us what employers are planning, what technologies they're adopting to improve health and safety, what landlords are expecting and planning, and what employees are seeking.  Below are some notable highlights:

Commercial Occupiers

• 90% will allow remote working after the pandemic – a third more than before the crisis.
• 71% say the shift to remote working has fundamentally altered their approach to space usage.
• 56% plan to lease less space.
• 54% plan to expand their use of hot-desking, with only 20% keeping all workstations assigned.  
• 83% plan to adopt new technologies to support changing workplace requirements.  

Employees

• 40% prefer working from home and 35% prefer a mix of on-site and remote working.  Only 24% prefer to work full-time on site.  
• 59% are concerned about health and safety in the on-site office.
• The top measures that raise confidence in health and safety among returning employees are 1) temperature scanning, 2) limitations on the number of people on site, and 3) touchless technologies.    

Landlords

• 63% report that their tenants are negotiating new lease terms.  
• 64% plan to adopt new technologies to support changing workplace requirements.
• 77% have increased their communications with tenants since the pandemic began.  

Takeaways