96% firms mandate return to office, and 76% employees are excited about it: Cisco
Around 96% of Indian companies have mandated a return to the office, driven by factors like productivity, team communication, and leadership initiatives.
Contrary to the common belief that employees are hesitant to return, 76% of Indian workers responded positively to this mandate.
Surprisingly, 82% expressed a desire to be back in the office at least a few times per week, revealing a keenness for in-person collaboration and engagement, according to the study titled ‘From Mandate to Magnet: The Race to Reimagine Workplaces and Workspaces for a Hybrid Future’.
However, the reasons for their return have shifted. Rather than individual tasks, employees prioritise collaborative work (80%), brainstorming with colleagues (53%), and fostering a sense of belonging (58%). This transformation underscores evolving expectations for work environments.
Yet, the study highlights a mismatch between workspace configurations and these changing needs. About 64% of employees find current office layouts unsuitable for effective collaboration and brainstorming. Despite the emphasis on collaboration, 85% of surveyed employers still allocate the majority of office spaces to individual workstations.
Issues with technology integration also surface. Concerns about meeting room inefficiency relate to lacking audio and video endpoints (48%), poor quality AV experiences (59%), and inconsistent experiences for remote and in-office participants (57%). Surprisingly, only 54% of enterprise conference rooms have adequate video and audio capabilities.
However, there's a positive note: 80% of employers have already made adjustments post-pandemic, and 90% plan to do so within the next two years. Adaptation to technological advancements (70%), meeting evolving employee expectations (67%), and better support for hybrid work (50%) are the driving factors for this change.
Sandeep Mehra, Managing Director of Collaboration Sales, Cisco APJC, commented, “Our study shows that employees in the region are open to a hybrid work model, but workspaces must evolve to meet their changing needs.”
