Microsoft's WorkReworked study offers new insights into how working people in the Netherlands deal with working from home. The report also brings new insights from employees and managers about how they experience working remotely. Read the main findings below:
Working Netherlands finds casual clothing the biggest advantage of working from home
According to the survey, employees experience quite a few benefits from working from home. They consider the greatest advantage to be able to wear casual clothes more often (61%), followed by having more time for hobbies (45%) and working with a pet next to the workplace 24%).
For many people, the amount of work has increased. Despite the fact that two in three (68%) of employees indicate that they have more work than before, they believe the work-life balance is the same as it was before the pandemic.
By working remotely, employees are a lot more productive. Last year they indicated that they waste 52% of the working week on productivity-inhibiting matters such as (pointless) meetings and work stoppages, now that is only 39%.
The morning has gold in its mouth. According to the respondents, the best time for Dutch people to work productively is at 10:00 a.m. However, that peak in productivity decreases quickly, after an hour (11:00) productivity drops again.
More productive or not, just under half (43%) of employees say they worked without the necessary hardware during the pandemic. A separate mouse (65%), a large screen (65%) and good internet (89%) were missing.
Changing work culture requires 'caring' leaders
According to the survey, a large proportion of companies are more flexible with matters such as working hours and working from home. Three in four companies (76%) have implemented flexible work (from home) policies since the pandemic, compared to just one in four in 2019 (24%).
Nevertheless, managers and employees feel that the corporate culture is coming under pressure and a clear decrease is visible. In 2019, 40% indicated that their company has an innovative work culture and in 2020 only 28%. There will also be less innovation in core products and services in 2020 (39%) than in 2019 (56%).
According to employees, leaders fail to create cohesion within their team (53%). Also, managers do not encourage their team to fail (65%) and do not protect work-life balance well enough (58%).
The world post COVID-19 requires a new way of leadership. Half (53%) of employees say that leaders do not help keep the team together, followed by 58% who say that their supervisor does not monitor their work-life balance.
Companies save significant costs by working from home
Executives expect that 75% of staff will continue to work remotely in the future. According to them, this not only increases employee productivity, but also has a positive impact on talent retention (45%), on the environment (40%) and on cost savings (48%).
The surveyed companies from 10 European cities indicate that they can save enormously on the annual costs of an employee. According to the organizations, profit can be made in the field of meal costs (1,000 – 2,500), travel costs (500 – 1,500) and rent (5,000 – 10,000). Two in three companies spend less than 1,000 euros annually on supporting work tools and training for an employee.
