No love for the office: Most Brits disillusioned with the in-office experience

With more studies showing British employees’ disdain for working in physical offices, remote work isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

LONDON, ENGLAND — There’s been a lot of chatter about the future of remote work, and the future of work on the whole, really. Some businesses want remote to stay; some want it to go; and others still are picking the in-between option offered by hybrid.

But, debate or not, there is one glaring truth that parties on both sides can’t get away from: most British workers find the in-office experience to be a major snooze-fest.

Some independent organisations have begun conducting surveys in light of the trend of businesses trying to force ill-advised return-to-office (RTO) mandates towards the end of 2021.

What businesses that support RTO think about the matter is pretty obvious, but surveys were looking to find out what employees thought about it.

The answer: most British workers want remote work at least some of the time, far favouring remote or hybrid to fully in-office — and having a generally miserable time when working in-person was a huge part of that.

 

Staff would rather work at home, where there’s good coffee

One of the most recent studies to ask the British workforce how they feel about working in-person came from Claremont, an interior design company that seeks to help hybrid businesses with office solutions.

Claremont’s study was called “The Workplace Oooh,” and while it was geared towards what hybrid companies need to work on going forward, its results were fairly revealing about employee sentiment.

The study found that most British workers were not entirely satisfied with the in-person experience.

They described being deterred by things like work culture. Bad behaviours, noisy habits and general uncleanliness of their peers were some of the major complaints driving workers away from the physical workplace.

But dissatisfaction with available amenities was also a major deciding factor that made working from home extra-appealing in the eyes of the British workforce.

Things like a shoddy kitchen, bland coffee and nowhere to sit and take a breather in peace were also major reasons for staff to turn up their noses at the idea of going back to the office.

The sentiment isn’t much of a surprise when home is where the heart is for most people. You might be hard-pressed to find someone who would willingly give up comfort for anything remotely less.

Add that to the fact that more than half of the workers surveyed said they don’t feel motivated or valued by making the often gruelling trek into office, and it’s clear why remote work is still the golden standard for UK workers.

Find the latest remote jobs in the UK via RemoteWorker.co.uk.