Why come to the office? Investigating employee return to office in hybrid work

Purpose
Post-COVID-19, companies look for ways to make employees return to the office voluntarily through activity-based workplace designs. This pilot study aims to investigate why employees choose or avoid using the office as their workspace.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducted contextual interviews with seven employees and semi-structured interviews with five managers and a facility manager from three large organisations to gather comprehensive insights on workspace preferences and challenges.

Findings
Employees choose the office due to the facilities and social aspects. Employees choose to work from home because the office does not support employees’ tasks, the lack of control of the indoor environment in the office, and because the home provides comfort, privacy and flexibility.

Research limitations/implications
This study suggests that there is still quite a bit this paper does not fully understand about activity-based work (ABW) and hybrid work in practice. It is not just about designing nice workspaces; it is also about whether people know how to use them and feel comfortable doing so. Consequently, future research should examine how different types of employee’s experience ABW in different hybrid work settings and how well the design supports their daily tasks. Such a study should focus on use and not on implementation, which is change management. Another important area is how people behave in these new spaces, and what makes them follow (or ignore) the social rules that are supposed to make ABW work. Insights are needed into gender, age, personality, habits and digital skills. Instead of just asking people how they feel, future studies should combine people’s perceptions with data on how the spaces are used using sensors. In sum, there is a need for more practical, real-world studies that can help researchers and workplaces understand what makes ABW succeed or fail.

Practical implications
If the issues remain unresolved in an ABW environment, the implications for both the workplace (the organisational level) and the workspace (the physical and functional environment) can be significant. To make ABW work in practice, organisations should focus on both the physical design and the behavioural side of the workplace, that is, the code of conduct. It is important to involve employees early in the process to ensure that the office layout supports the way people work. Clear and simple guidelines for how to use the different spaces can help avoid misunderstandings and build a shared culture around the new way of working. At the same time, change should be supported over time, not just through one-off communication, but with ongoing dialogue, feedback and small adjustments. A balance between flexibility and structure is also needed, so that people feel free to choose how they work, but within a framework that keeps the environment functional. Finally, organisations should monitor how the spaces are used and be ready to adapt when things do not work as intended. This kind of practical, ongoing approach is key to making ABW successful and sustainable.

Originality/value
Unlike other studies on this topic, this study applies contextual interviews to understand employees’ perceived use and actual use of the office. This paper sets the stage for further research to understand how employees perceive and use hybrid and ABW.