Is the hybrid remote office model the future of work worldwide?

Almost three out of four office workers worldwide approved of the hybrid work concept, which divides the week between working from home and the office. Image: IStock.com/Anchiy via AFP Relaxnews

The new hybrid remote office model implemented by certain companies because of the pandemic has found favor with the majority of office employees in the past few months, according to a recent survey conducted by business communications tool Slack among office workers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Australia. But attitudes to remote working differ significantly among countries.

Which do you prefer, going into the office part-time, or working from home all week? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year, many organizations have been obliged to implement a new hybrid remote-working model, which might mean working remotely on Mondays and Tuesdays, for instance, and going in to work for the rest of the week.

Almost three out of four (72%) of the 9,032 participants in the Slack survey approved of this hybrid work concept, with only 11.6% wishing to return to full-time office work.

Germans are the most inclined to adopt such measures, with 77% of German respondents in favor of a hybrid remote-office model. 74% of French workers polled would also agree to implement it.

Though the hybrid model appealed to the majority of respondents, the survey also showed that office workers in different countries see remote working differently. For instance, U.S. workers prefer implementing a full-time remote policy while French employees would rather see their colleagues a few days a week.

Meanwhile, 14% of French respondents said they valued going to the office rather than working remotely all week long, as opposed to just 8% of British workers polled. 13% of Japanese and Australian respondents would prefer to work entirely from the office, whereas only 11 % of the U.S. workers surveyed would.

In the U.S., working from home all week long seems to be the preferred solution for 16% of respondents, whereas only 8% of Japanese respondents would accept working fully remotely. Only 10% of German and 11% of French respondents approved of full-time home office policies.

The survey was conducted between June 30 and Aug. 11, 2020 by Global WebIndex and Slack. RGA

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