What is the view of Dutch employees with an office job on office life after the pandemic? The office will never be the same! For example, employees expect that the office will be seen more as the place to socialize with your colleagues, that the sweatpants will no longer be indispensable here, but that we will banish those infamous birthday congratulations to the past. What else does the employee expect? Flex office provider Spaces figured it out…
The social hub
After more than a year of working from home, we are looking more critically at the working environment. We are already quite used to it:hanging out the laundry between two zoom calls, or being able to focus completely in isolation on preparing the – very important – presentation. Although many like working from home, we also remain social animals. It is therefore not surprising that 70% miss the small talk at the coffee machine very much. We therefore expect that the office will play a major social role in re-establishing mutual contact with colleagues. We have a huge need for socializing because almost 2 in 3 office workers (65%) expect the work drink to be busier than ever before.
Kissing is a no-go
Not only the office is subject to change, our etiquette is too! Three kisses on the cheek? Where we turned a blind eye to that in the past, we now give thanks for it. Super nice, but we find this even less pleasant now. Now that we have been armed with mouth caps and hand soap for quite some time, we prefer to keep our distance. According to 8 out of 10 employees (83%) shaking hands and giving out kisses are a thing of the past. Secretly, this makes us all quite happy.
The sweatpants are here to stay
For those who applaud the sweatpants and jeans… good news! More than three quarters (77%) of employees expect casual wear in the office to become much more common than before. So getting up early to get yourself in business attire, they don't see it happening again any time soon. That means extra time in the morning to catch up on the news or read a book, right?
Chances are you never imagined how much working from home would bring. You're not the only one! More than a year ago, working from home was often unthinkable. You can get used to everything. But one thing is certain, employees expect that the office will not get its old function back. “Absolutely.
