A new report from CBRE’s flexible office arm Hana has revealed that demand for flexibility is growing among employees. However, the report indicates that workers still value face-to-face interactions with colleagues in the office.

“In our survey of more than 1,000 U.S. office workers, we discovered, unsurprisingly, that employees miss the in-person interactions with colleagues that are hard to replicate while working remotely,” said Andrew Kupiec, CEO of Hana. “A large proportion of employees cite valuing meaningful in-office connections such as random conversations, in-person meetings and collaboration.”

Still, the report also found that workers are not eager to go back to traditional 9 to 5 schedules after experiencing the benefits of a flexible work day. The survey revealed that 40% of US workers who worked exclusively in an office pre-pandemic are concerned about losing flexible options when returning to the workplace. 

While the value of flexibility is not going anywhere, neither is the office. Kupiec suggests that occupiers create a plan that ensures their workspaces are safe, clean and comfortable for employees who do wish to return to the office.

“We have robust health and safety protocols following CBRE’s strict guidance for all our spaces and have been in constant communication with landlord partners regarding various protocols,” said Kupiec. “We completely revisited our procedures, including the people who access our spaces and the ways in which they do so, enabling clear social distancing, providing on-site personal protection equipment and increasing our cleaning standards.”