Until recently, most people worked in an office or other communal workplace. Post-COVID, many organizations are planning to or have returned to the office. But a lot of workers question the need to come back at all.
‘Remote and Hybrid Working’ research from The Myers-Briggs Company investigates workers’ attitudes to remote, hybrid and non-remote working. The survey includes analysis regarding MBTI personality type, managerial support, and other factors.
Findings include:
- Mismatch in remote working preferences leads to employee turnover – A strong predictor of whether an employee was intending to leave their job was the mismatch between their remote working preferences and the actuality of current job demands. Many entirely office-based workers wished to work for a least some time at home. Other groups who were more likely to be thinking of leaving included middle managers and individuals with intuition and/or perceived preferences.
- Open office plans disappoint – Those working in fully open-plan offices were the least likely to say they really enjoyed their job, those in private offices the most. When asked, “What one change would make the biggest improvement to your office or other working environment?” The most common theme concerned having greater privacy and doing away with open office plans.
- Don’t default to sweeping back-to-office protocols – “The overarching theme of the research was that blanket back-to-office policies are easier, but not preferred,” said John Hackston, head of thought leadership at The Myers-Briggs Company. “Ask your employees how they work best, and then develop policies. Don’t assume.”
To download the full report, go here: https://www.themyersbriggs.com/programs/Hybrid-Working
