BACK TO OFFICE SCENARIOS

ARE NOT ONLY PUSHED

BY C-LEVEL

MANAGEMENT , BUT THEY ARE ALSO COMPLETELY IN LINE WITH WHAT

EMPLOYEES WANT .

HE TRENDS , WHICH are highlighted in Outlook For The Post-Covid Workplace , include :

• Office optimism returns . Back to office scenarios are not only pushed by C-level management , but they are also completely in line with what employees want . More than half of the workforce is ready to return and 92 % were expected to be back in the office one or more days by the end of June 2021 . They want to work less from home than six months ago ( two days in 2020 – 1.5 days in 2021 ).

• The Barco Meeting Barometer takes a plunge as people struggle with an overload of virtual meetings . An index of – 25 , compared to + 17 in 2020 and + 63 in 2019 , clearly shows that meetings deteriorate . Fifty-four percent feel remote collaboration does not come naturally .

• The search for more engagement drives us away from virtual . We look for more in-person meetings and less virtual interactions . One in two employees goes back to the office to host a meeting . The preference for hybrid , in-person or virtual meetings depends on the purpose and type of a meeting , as well as on the number of meeting participants . High engagement activities like decision making , solution solving or relationship building require office-based meetings .

• The laptop is our interface to the world . As the preference for people centric tech becomes clearer , the laptop remains the number one tool for 69 % of employees to host videocalls from .

• The employee centric workplace arises . Hybrid meeting investments should be in sync with employee expectations on how and where they want to work and collaborate . Thirty-nine percent believe that the company has not prioritised the investments they needed for better hybrid collaboration while 88 % think that all meeting rooms need to be equipped with videoconferencing technology .

At the same time , Barco Clickshare has revealed the latest data from its Meeting Barometer , which shows the evolution in meeting expectation and the improvement of collaboration on a quarterly basis . The barometer is measured in the same way the Net Promotor Score is measured , by detracting the negatives ( respondents that think meetings have worsened ) from the positives ( respondents that feel meetings have improved ).

Barco ’ s meeting quality index takes a plunge from + 17 in 2020 to – 25 now . The Meeting Quality Index suggests a cautious positivity about the quality of meetings compared to last year . Claudio Cardile , ANZ Managing Director , Barco , said : “ Meetings will continue to play a crucial role in tomorrow ’ s workplace , as they will be a key driver for Business Continuity , teamwork and innovation during the transition into a new hybrid reality . Connecting workers wherever they are in Australia and making hybrid collaboration truly flow will be the road to future success , higher engagement and productivity .

“ At the same time , hybrid meetings will create opportunities for business leaders to change

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