A flexible future Many workers hope to return to office but keep home as option
For George Foster, chief executive of Foster Marketing, there’s no replacement for in-person communication.
The informal interactions that make for better communication, bring coworkers closer together and create mentorship opportunities, he explained, were hard to re-create with Zoom calls and emails. “I always manage the business by walking through the halls and asking, ‘How are you doing?’” he said.
The company’s Houston office — which has plenty of room to socially distance with six employees spread across roughly 3,000 square feet — reopened in mid-May.
But others have taken to working from home. “I personally would like to work from home on a permanent basis,” said Itssel Jaimes, who works at a firm to deter fraud on people’s financial accounts. Not only has she enjoyed a break from her commute — she has also found that she’s “surprisingly way more productive” working from home, she said in an email.
As workplaces begin to reopen, many employees are hoping to return to the office while retaining the flexibility to work from home, multiple studies show.
Ninety-nine percent of those working from home during the coronavirus pandemic said there are aspects of working remotely they find valuable — such as saving money and commuting time — according to a survey conducted by market research company Harris Poll and sponsored by flexible office space company Hana.
While most respondents said they wanted to return to the office at least one day a week, 30 percent said they have grown used to working from home and would like to continue to do so most of the time, according to design firm Gensler’s nationwide survey of 2,300 employees. And a University of Houston sur
vey of energy workers found that some would be willing to consider a furlough or even quitting to avoid physically returning to the office. Concerns about returning were especially prevalent among those with heightened safety concerns — such as minorities and families that live with older relatives — and those with children who are now at home.
“Our advice would be to really be flexible to accommodate workers’ perspectives,” said Christiane Spitzmueller, a University of Houston professor who studies the energy workforce. “There are workers who are incredibly eager to go back — they miss the social context, they miss the short conversations in the hallway that would other the wise take a longer call. But in order not to alienate minority employees, those who live in multi-generational households and those with kids, flexibility is required.”
Her survey, conducted April 27 to May 5, found that roughly 70 percent of energy workers would prefer to continue working from home.
A significant share of companies have already said they will allow workers to continue working from home long term. When the Houston-based commercial real estate firm NAI Partners surveyed its clients on their plans, 38 percent responded that they plan to allow certain employees to work from home even when the pandemic is over. An additional 57 percent said they were considering similar options although they’d prefer employees physically in office.
“I think, pre-COVID, a lot of people had a hard time thinking about the possibility of working from home,” said Dean Strombom, Gensler principal. “Now that we’ve been forced into this situation of working from home, it’s interesting to see how well people are able to work from home and what those expectations may be as they return to work.”
A Gensler study from before the pandemic suggested that people are most productive when they are able to work remotely — whether from home, a coffee shop or another nonoffice setting — one day a week.
And the firm’s research has found that, in order for employees to feel comfortable coming back to the office, more individual space, stricter cleaning protocols and explicit sick policies will be paramount.
“In the past, if someone was sniffling at the office, they may still hang around,” Strombom said. “I think the expectation is they may now be sent home.”