Largest Survey on Working from Home During Pandemic Reveals Work Will Shift from Office-Based to Total Workplace Ecosystem, Balancing Office, Home and Other Locations

HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 4 June 2020 - Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) recently analyzed responses from more than 40,000 people in the largest survey conducted on work-from-home experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing insight into how employees are coping and what the new normal will look like as offices reopen.

The survey results demonstrate that, during the pandemic, productivity remains strong and team collaboration has reached new heights through better leverage of remote technology. Three quarters of respondents agree or strongly agree that they are collaborating effectively with colleagues in the current environment -- up 10% from the pre-COVID-19 period -- and 73% think companies should embrace flexible working policies.

"It's imperative to recognize that the workplace will no longer be a single location, but an ecosystem of a variety of locations and experiences to support convenience, functionality and employee wellbeing," said Brett White, Executive Chairman & CEO of Cushman & Wakefield. "That said, we expect current real estate footprint sizes to remain steady. Flexible working practices may result in fewer people in the office at any one time, but that space-saving is offset by the need to accommodate social distancing in the office."

Remote working may be here to stay, but results also show human connection and social bonding are suffering, thus negatively impacting corporate culture and learning. Slightly more than half of respondents feel connected to their colleagues in the work-from-home environment.

"As we look to the future, the office will have a new purpose: to provide inspiring destinations that strengthen cultural connection, enhance learning, encourage bonding among colleagues and customers, and foster creativity and innovation," said Despina Katsikakis, Head of Workplace Business Performance at Cushman & Wakefield.

Carol Wong, Director and Head of Workplace Delivery, Asia Pacific added, "The results for Asia Pacific are similar to the rest of the world in that employees in this region are also finding themselves to be as equally or more productive when working from home. However, given the cultural diversity in Asia Pacific, it is important for organizations to take a 'Glocal' approach (appropriately apply global trends locally) in designing the future of their workplaces. Individual cultural nuances as well as employees' readiness for change have to be considered in order to maintain or enhance employees' experience and engagement levels." 

"Flexibility is accelerating in China," said Jonathan Wei, Managing Director, Head of Occupier Services, China at Cushman & Wakefield. "By adopting a data-driven, evidence-based approach companies can develop innovative strategies that support a combination of office-based and remote working to leverage success and manage challenges."

John Siu, Managing Director, Hong Kong at Cushman & Wakefield said, "Remote working apparently does not fit all trades, however, given the global-top office rental levels in Hong Kong, for those companies that could adopt remote working as a viable alternative, it will be a way to help save costs and attract talents."

Cushman & Wakefield has adopted a data-driven, evidenced-based approach to understanding key drivers of workplace experience through its Experience per Square Foot™ (XSF) database, a proprietary tool that tracks real estate and workplace metrics. The firm has analyzed over 2.5 million data points related to workplace experience pre-COVID-19, and a further 1.7 million data points in the current work-from-home environment.

Visit The Future of Workplace to download the report.