English

What Attracts Employees to Work Onsite in Times of Increased Remote Working?

Software Engineering 2024-03-08 v2

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has irreversibly changed the attitude towards office presence. While previously remote workers were met with skepticism and distrust, today the same applies to companies prohibiting remote working. Albeit many workspaces are half empty. In this paper, we offer insights into the role of the office, corporate policies and actions regarding remote work in eight companies: Ericsson, Knowit, SpareBank 1 Utvikling, Spotify, Storebrand, Telenor, Company-X, Company-Y, and their sites in Sweden, Norway and the UK. Our findings are twofold. First, we found that companies indeed struggle with office presence and a large share of corporate space (35-67%) is underutilized. Second, we found that the main motivator for office presence is Connection and community, followed by Material offerings, Preference and Duty. Finally, we summarize actionable advice to promote onsite work, which is likely to help many other companies to rejuvenate life in their offices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.09232,
  title  = {What Attracts Employees to Work Onsite in Times of Increased Remote Working?},
  author = {Darja Smite and Eriks Klotins and Nils Brede Moe},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.09232},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

5 pages, 1 table, 2 figures. Accepted by IEEE Software