Sorry, boss: 72% of workers don’t want to return to offices full-time

Majority would prefer a hybrid work-from-home model

Though landlords aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to their offices, employees are, according to a new survey by JLL. (Getty)
Though landlords aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to their offices, employees are, according to a new survey by JLL. (Getty)

Office landlords may be ready to get their buildings filled with workers again, but employees aren’t exactly clamoring to go back, according to a new survey by JLL.

Of the 2,000 workers surveyed by the commercial brokerage, 72 percent said they would prefer to work from home more regularly, with two or three days spent in the office, the Commercial Observer reported. Meanwhile, 66 percent want to move to a hybrid model that includes working in offices, at home and at spaces like a coworking facility or coffee shop.

“The pandemic has been a very interesting accelerant to accelerate a number of workplace and technology changes that were already underway,” Peter Miscovich, managing director of strategy and innovation at JLL, told the publication.

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Although companies have been struggling financially amid the pandemic — Knotel filed for bankruptcy in February, among other high-profile meltdowns — they may be the future of work. The survey found that 40 percent of workers would like to be able to work from such spaces in the future.

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(JLL’s competitor, Newmark, is set to acquire Knotel, while CBRE recently took a 35 percent stake in flex-office provider Industrious.)

And while companies from Salesforce to JP Morgan to Yelp have announced remote work plans in recent weeks, one size does not fit all, according to Miscovich.

“We’re seeing a diversity of strategy across various regions and geographies,” Miscovich told the Observer.

[CO] — Sasha Jones