Evolution of working condition needs in face of pandemic: a study

According to Skanska’s survey among people in CEE, nowadays nearly half of office workers in Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic go to the office every day, and now they have specific preferences regarding their workplace. These include a quiet space and high office standards (e.g. safety, relaxation, working in the open air), which are the most frequently indicated key factors in the region that motivate people to work from the office. 

The study presents an analysis of employees’ answers in four countries in Central and Eastern Europe – Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Hungary. Its main aim was to gather data concerning, among others, the perspective of the employees in terms of their workspace conditions and thus, the future of office spaces.

The survey shows that the home office is not an ideal solution in the eyes of employees when it comes to CEE in general – more people would prefer to work only from the office in comparison to those who prefer only the home office. Nowadays, nearly half of all employees work in the office every day (48 percent). As it turns out, however, the region is heading towards a hybrid model with office work dominating. This tendency is especially visible in the Czech Republic (56 percent) and Poland (52 percent).

“The pandemic has somehow outlined the future of office spaces and the evolving needs of employees. We can see that people still prefer going to the office, as more than half of the respondents claim they would like to work in the office nearly full-time. However, in the post-pandemic era offices will have to offer more than before – they should be better, more comfortable, and interesting than what we have at home,” Arkadiusz Rudzki, Executive Vice President for Leasing & Sales at Skanska commercial development business unit in CEE, said.

(WBJ)