Professionals are looking forward to returning to the offices. Flexibility of teleworking, less face to face meetings and austerity measures as results of pandemic according to the Hays recent survey.

· Nearly half (48%) of employees say they are looking forward to returning to their place of work

· 30% of workers are concerned about the risk of infection when returning to the office

· 33% of professionals expect there will be more flexibility to work remotely following the pandemic

Recruiting experts, Hays, has conducted a poll of over 1,400 people globally to find out their concerns around returning to their place of work following the end of lockdown restrictions and the changes they expect to happen in the world of work as a direct result of the pandemic.

The Czech Republic is currently in a period when companies and businesses are returning to operation. A number of new hygienic standards apply, so we cannot call this operation normal, however, companies operate and employees are generally allowed to return to offices on a voluntary basis.

When asked if they were looking forward to going back into the office, 48% of respondents stated they were, while only 25% said they weren’t looking forward to it and 27% said they were indifferent.

Sandor Bodnar, Managing Director of Hays Czech and Romania, commented; “With nearly half of those surveyed saying they are looking forward to returning to the office, businesses must make sure their workplace is prepared, with social distancing precautions in place, to ensure they are continuing to prioritise the health and wellbeing of their employees. They must also make sure they are following any local government regulations or guidance. I think it’s also important to acknowledge that just because someone is looking forward to returning to the office, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are willing to face any perceived risks in returning, such as crowded public transportation services.”

People will be looking forward to returning for different reasons. Everybody’s lockdown experience has been unique to them. Some have been success in the transition to remote working whilst other others will have been trying to juggle other commitments, been ill themselves or some may have struggled to find a suitable work location or not had the correct equipment to allow them to work.”

When asked if they had any reservations about returning to the office, 30% said they didn’t want to risk potential infection. Meanwhile, 18% of respondents stated they didn’t have any concerns about returning, 17% said they weren’t looking forward to their commute and 16% thought they had been more productive at home. Only 13% said they didn’t want to disrupt their new work life balance and 5% said they have other commitments which mean they must remain at home.

When asked about how they thought their world of work will change as a result of the pandemic, 33% said they expect there to be more flexibility to work remotely. While 19% said they expect there to be fewer face-to-face meetings, 17% expect budgets to be cut and 11% expect the workforce to be smaller and a further 11% expect their priorities to change. Only 5% thought there wouldn’t be any changes and 3% expect their workload to be lighter.

Sándor Bodnár from Hays said, “We can expect some big changes in this new era of work versus the world we left behind just a few short months ago, some that aren’t even obvious yet. In a lot of ways, the pandemic has advanced how we work by a number of years and some of these changes we can certainly expect to remain. Again, it’s up to business leaders to be clear with their employees on the changes they can expect and how they will affect them. There are many considerations for businesses if they plan on permanently implementing some of these changes, such as inclusion when they are managing a hybrid workforce with a mix of office based and remote workers.”

Respondents were asked a qualifying question of whether they had been working remotely and responses were collected between 17 April and 11 May onwww.social.hays.com.