HqO, the world’s leading workplace experience platform, today announced the release of its annual “The State of Workplace Experience” report, a research-driven analysis of how the workplace and overall employee sentiment have evolved over the past year and what trends will emerge in 2023 as more workers are called back to the office.

Featuring proprietary data from research firms Gartner and Leesman, an HqO company, the 2023 report details a shift in how employees perceive and use the workplace, from an environment where the full scope of their work gets done – focused and individual activities, as well as group meetings – to a space that supports more spontaneous collaboration and interaction. Highlights include:

• From before the start of the pandemic to 2021-22, the percentage of respondents who said informal social interaction was an important workplace activity grew by 20%. No other workplace activity had a greater increase.
• The importance of both planned and informal meetings increased from pre-pandemic to today, 4% and 1.5% respectively. Yet, 40% of employees said they are not satisfied with the meeting rooms offered by their workplaces, and 45% are not satisfied with the room and desk booking systems.
• Survey respondents place more importance on learning from others in the workplace, moving from 39% to 42.9% over the course of the pandemic.
• Declining importance of certain activities also points to employees viewing the workplace as primarily a place for connection. The importance of telephone conversations, private conversations and business confidential discussions as workplace activities all decreased from the pre-pandemic period among survey respondents as remote workspaces likely provide better venues for these kinds of activities.
• The importance of parking facilities was higher in 2021-22 than before the start of the pandemic, ranking third behind mobile computing equipment and access to IT help.

“This year’s report underscores the shifting role of the workplace as employees expect – and, in many cases, demand – an experience that justifies the commute, even if it’s just two or three days a week,” said Chase Garbarino, CEO and co-founder of HqO. “Interpersonal interaction has never been more important, making it critical for workplace decision-makers to invest in social infrastructure that brings people closer together. Those who embrace connectivity and community are best positioned to maximize productivity and profitability.”

The release of the report follows HqO’s 2022 acquisition of Leesman, the global leader in employee experience research. The Leesman data comes from roughly 300,000 responses to its global surveys of office workers. It is supplemented by Gartner’s insights, which originate both from the company’s qualitative analysis of the workplace experience marketplace and from its rigorous survey of roughly 200 industry researchers, commercial real estate CFOs and industry finance leaders.

Click here to download the full 2023 “The State of Workplace Experience” report.

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