Daniel Davis is head of research for global multidisciplinary architecture practice Hassell. Based in New York, Davis’s area of interest is the relationship between people, space and design technology. Having presented his workplace research everywhere, from Columbia University to Cornet, and written for Harvard Business Review, Australian Design Review is honoured to have Davis contribute his insights on the newfound state of calm within workplaces. 

In recent years, the workplace has been in a constant state of flux. This year, after much disruption and upheaval, workplace patterns are finally stabilising—they feel more settled, predictable and reliable. 

After years of lockdowns, return-to-office mandates and ongoing uncertainty, people are starting to find a new equilibrium. Hybrid work is here to stay, and alongside it we see a growing preference for home-like comforts in the workplace. Think — food, greenery and quieter environments, defined by flexibility, freedom and fresh air. These are some of the key findings of Hassell’s new report, The Big Calm: 2024 Workplace Futures Survey. 

This year, Hassell surveyed 2500 people in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK and the US. It’s our fifth annual workplace report since the start of the pandemic. This year we saw a global convergence in workplace patterns and a broader shift towards environments that promote both peace and productivity. All of this revealed something we hadn’t seen before in our research: stability.

Tranquil over trendy—simple pleasures the most desired

When workers returned to the office post-pandemic, they brought new expectations about how the workplace should function—ranging from what it means to be quiet and focused to what you might do on your lunch break. 

Each year, as part of our research, we ask people which amenities they most want in their company’s workplace. We give people a long list of amenities to choose from and found that home-like comforts were often the most attractive.

Shown this list, people rarely picked fancy amenities like a personal concierge or doggy daycare (picked by 7 percent and 11 percent respectively). Instead, people gravitated towards things they can often find at home – gardens and green spaces (34 percent), good coffee and fresh air (33 percent), space to focus (27 percent), or even take a nap (18 percent).

This isn’t to say that people want their office to look like a home. Instead, it reflects that long periods of working from home during the pandemic has adjusted people’s appreciation for what matters. Many people now want the conveniences of home to be available and easily accessible in their workplace. 

Hybrid work —for the most part—is here to stay

In the early phases of the pandemic, there was a lot of variation in where people were working. People in Perth were much more likely to work from an office than those in Melbourne because of lockdowns and other differences in how the pandemic affected local communities. But over time, these regional differences have subsided. 

Today, there’s less variation in where people are working. Hybrid work is a permanent fixture in all the places we study – even places like Perth. Overall, the percentage of people working in a hybrid manner ranges between 30 percent to 45 percent globally. Meanwhile, the percentage of workers fully back in the office (four days or more) varies from 42 percent to 50 percent.

Some industries are exceptions to these patterns. But if you were hoping to get everyone back to the office five days a week, it’s not looking likely. If you look at the workforce as a whole, hybrid is part of the new reality.

A growing demand for quiet spaces

A by-product of hybrid work is that people often prefer individual work at home. When they do work from the office, more seek collaborative work or quiet/focused work, which equates to less demand for open-plan spaces and more demand for meeting rooms. 

People are seeking out meeting rooms for many reasons: they want to gather a group together, or they might want privacy, quiet and some space to themselves. Whatever the case, these are things they can’t find in their open-plan office.

In The Big Calm: 2024 Workplace Futures Survey, we asked people if they had enough space to collaborate and enough space to focus without distraction. Fewer than one-quarter of Australians (23 percent) feel they have enough space to focus without distraction, and only 35 percent believe they have sufficient space for collaboration. 

These results are especially concerning given that the two factors are closely tied to people’s workplace satisfaction. Those with enough space to focus typically have 24 percent higher satisfaction scores than those who don’t. People with enough space to collaborate usually have 12 percent higher scores. 

Now is the time to update workspaces

The good news? This newfound stability and era of calm means companies who have been waiting for the right moment to improve their workplace can now make changes confident that the foreseeable future will not bring radical shifts. 

Revisit the essentials of office kitchen design with Hassell and Breath Architecture.