Search icon

News

21st Sep 2021

Six out of 10 office workers still in the dark about future workplace plans

Clara Kelly

 A lot of uncertainty still remains.

Six out of 10 workers are still in the dark about future workplace plans, according to a new survey.

New research from Taxback.com revealed that of the 1,500 employees surveyed, 38% have already returned to the office, 36% have not yet been told when they should expect to return, and the remaining 26% are due to go back within the next six months.

Of those employees who have been told by their employer, there was a near-even split between those who will be primarily co-locating between the office and home (35%) those who will be office-based (35%) and those fully remote working (30%). 

11% said they had already asked their employer if they could retain home working as a permanent part of their working arrangements.

Marian Ryan, Consumer Tax Manager with Taxback.com said that the survey made it clear that the landscape for office workers is “very much in flux”.

“18 months of largely working from home has had a profound impact on the nature of work, how we work, and has raised questions on the very future of the office itself,” she said on Tuesday.

Ryan added that there has been “much debate on the pros and cons” of home working versus a return to the office.

“Many workers may have benefitted from remote working, for example enjoying the lack of commuting, which gives more time at home and with family and alleviates the stress and cost associated with a daily commute. Others may have benefitted from changes to their work-life balance,” she said.

“On the other hand, some workers miss the office. They may have found it difficult to create productive habits from home, or simply feel unable to ‘switch off’ at the end of the working day, and creep into bad habits around disconnecting from work,” Ryan added.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc