By the end of 2023, 39% of workers from all over the world who perform their tasks in knowledge-related areas will have a hybrid work format, divided between face-to-face and remote. This percentage is 2% higher than at the end of 2022. This is estimated by Gartner analysts, who also warn that the acceptance of this and other work formats may vary depending on the sector.
Thus, IT-related workers will be more likely to leave their jobs if they do not have more flexibility and reconciliation options, as well as opportunities to advance in their career; than those who work in other sectors. In this case, CIOs can achieve a higher level of talent retention by making propositions to employees in which they value each other’s circumstances more in order to offer them flexibility.
For Gartner, hybrid workers are those who work from an office at least one day a week, and remote workers are those who always do so from their homes, remotely. Its analysts see that hybrid and face-to-face are the modalities that are on the rise, while remote work continues to fall as the months go by. Thus, Gartner estimates that only 9% of workers around the world will do their tasks remotely by the end of 2023.
Of course, given that the circumstances of the workers will be taken more into account, more will be committed to human-centered design for work spaces. Virtual workspaces will take center stage, which to be successful will have to be more capable of bringing employees together no matter where they are on the planet.
Virtual workspaces offer new and disruptive alternatives to in-person meetings, as well as existing virtual meeting solutions. According to Gartner, by 2025, 10% of employees will be using virtual spaces for activities such as sales, new employee onboarding, and remote work.
However, according to the consultancy, employees should not be forced to interact in a virtual workspace throughout their working day. These spaces should only be used for meetings and enhanced interactions with them, such as social gatherings, product reviews, or brainstorming sessions.
As for the distribution of remote and hybrid work, it varies depending on countries and regions. Thus, while all countries have increased their share of remote and hybrid workers since 2019, in United StatesFor example, the trend towards hybrid work is greater than in the rest of the world. There, 51% of workers related to knowledge areas can count on hybrid work by the end of 2023. And another 20%, with completely remote work.
On the opposite side, in Japan they are focusing more on getting workers back to the offices. There, the number of workers who work completely remotely, or with a hybrid work format will be 29% of the total. In Europe, meanwhile, hybrid employment is expected to rise in 2023. In Germany, for example, remote and hybrid workers will be 49% of the total. In the UK, meanwhile, due to its mix of cultures and sectors, the number of remote and hybrid workers is likely to rise.
In the United States, by the end of 2023, the percentage of knowledge workers performing their tasks fully remotely or hybridly will be 71% of all workers. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom 67% will do so.
For Ranjit Atwal, Gartner Principal Analyst«the hybrid is no longer just a benefit for the worker, but an expectation of the employees. Many started to partially return to the office in 2022, but the hybrid work style will continue to prevail both in 2023 and beyond. To adapt, employers have been implementing people-centered job design, including flexibility, purposeful collaboration, and empathy-based management, which is more suited to hybrid workers.«.
