JLL Survey Reveals Nearly Half of Irish Employers Advocate for Full-Time Office Return
Despite the tight labour markets, the recent tech layoffs, and the rise of AI and automation, survey respondents feel positive about the future. In addition to attendance, nearly two-thirds of employers expect their headcount to increase by 2030. But a rebalancing of skills is also taking place, as employers are looking to recruit the right skills to enable them to be future-fit.
Despite the challenging commercial real estate landscape and mixed economic environment, Irish business leaders are bullish on the future, with two-thirds (66%) expecting their corporate real estate (CRE) budgets to increase between now and 2030, as revealed in JLL's (NYSE: JLL) Future of Work Survey 2024. The biennial, global survey explores the evolving world of work by assessing the key priorities, challenges and strategies that are top of mind for more than 2,300 business and CRE decision-makers.
‘Office advocates’ are growing in numbers.
In a multiple-answer question, business leaders based in Ireland were mainly focused on three corporate goals over the next five years: attracting and maintaining talent (49%), achieving organisational efficiency (44%), and reducing operating costs (42%). However, the juxtaposition that lies between driving revenue growth through top talent and increasing efficiency requires leaders to delicately balance priorities and assess the role of offices as places that enable employees to deliver their best work.
Strong momentum toward office-based work brought forth expectations among respondents to increase the use of office space (62%), where more than half of leaders plan to grow their total footprint over the next five years. Today, 47% of organisations are considered "office advocates," who would like to see staff in the office five days a week – an increase when compared to the global average of 34% in 2022.
Hybrid work is here to stay and will continue to evolve, but the office will be integral to the future of the workplace. Today, 57% of Irish respondents identified as 'hybrid promoters' (a policy of at least one to four days in the office), and 64% expect the number of in-office days to increase by 2030, trending above the global average of 43%. This confirms that the requirement for suitable office space will remain.
Competing visions of how work should be done.
The hybrid adopter and office advocate styles reflect a wide spectrum of visions and might even coexist within the same organisation - depending on job requirements. Organisation type and location are also influencing factors. The survey shows that ‘Hybrid adopters’ are more likely to be large organisations of 10,000+ employees and based in EMEA, where hybrid workstyles are now considered a key component of the Employee Value Proposition. Hybrid also appeals to certain types of organisations, such as those in e-commerce, energy & renewables, technology and life sciences. Notably, these are all new economy, knowledge-based industries where staff attraction and retention are crucial to success in high-growth sectors.
On the other hand, ‘Office advocates’ are more likely to be small to medium-sized companies with 1,000-9,999 employees and to be based in APAC or the Americas. Interestingly, they are largely in industries which are either customer-facing or have a large proportion of non-office staff working onsite, such as healthcare, retail and manufacturing. Their preference suggests these organisations do not want disparity in work practices – management at home and workers on the shop floor - and are using office-based working to build solidarity across the whole workforce.
Strikingly, differences in workstyles translate into distinct and complementary approaches to the workplace. Perhaps as a consequence of the need to make the five-day-a-week workplace inclusive, Office advocates are making a concerted effort to address diverse workplace needs: from accessibility and generational requirements to culture and neurodiversity specificities, 1 in 2 Office advocates consider themselves as highly efficient in addressing a wide spectrum of needs, while only 1 in 3 feels so among Hybrid adopters. They are also more likely to pay a premium to occupy buildings with leading health and wellbeing credentials, demonstrating higher readiness to invest in the provision of high workplace experience standards. Once again, those nuances in the approach can apply within the same company and CRE teams need to orchestrate them smartly and subtly.
Organisations are open to the idea of creating workspaces away from primary office locations
When asked how likely the following scenario is for their organisation, 55% of Irish employers answered very likely, “'We will introduce different pay and benefits to employees who attend the office regularly and those who work completely remotely”, this is in comparison to the 39% average for Europe. In areas where long commutes are an obstacle to getting employees in the same building, the survey indicated that 56% of organisations would consider having workspaces, answering, “We will supplement primary locations with a network of workspaces closer to where our employees live.”
By the end of the decade
"The future of work looks different across companies and regions, reflecting the unique nature of organisations and employee needs. In Ireland, the survey shows clear evidence that the 'traditional work week’ has been resigned to the history books but the long-term narrative of what the workplace will look like in 2030 has yet to be written. Employees want greater flexibility, and this will restructure how office space is utilised. This is reflected in the survey results: 50% of our Irish respondents envision that by the end of the decade, office spaces might only open on certain days of the week (e.g. Tuesday to Thursday). Additionally, 53% envision that the 4-day working week will be a potential scenario for their organisation by the end of the decade" said Niall Gargan, Head of Research, JLL Ireland.
"The survey also confirms that organisations realise capital spend will be required to facilitate these societal changes. 88% acknowledge they will have to engage in space design and fit-out works to change with the times."