Poly (NYSE: POLY), released today a new report outlining the evolution of the workplace and changing employee attitudes to the 9-5.
The Poly ‘Evolution of the Workplace’ report provides analysis on the findings of a survey of 7,261 hybrid workers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The report noted working from home made employees more productive with lesser concerns for noise and distractions. The survey found that 37% of workers in the UAE are worried that working remotely could impact their development and career progression. The survey revealed that 39% of females are expected to feel that way as compared to 35% of their male counterparts in the nation.
The report also examines how attitudes and behaviours have evolved – factoring in key variables such as working patterns and culture, frustration and noise, including what we wear.
“Almost two-thirds of hybrid workers (64%) believe that office culture has changed forever,” says Dave Shull, president and CEO of Poly. “The uptick in hybrid working is a signal that our professional life is set to transform further. Work equity and equality of employee experiences are now at the forefront of all discussions as both organizations and workers are embracing the new ways of working. This is the change that Poly is helping our customers navigate – enabling them to create balanced and personal experiences for all employees, regardless of location.”
From a UAE perspective, the trend was almost similar with only 45% of the hybrid or home workers agreeing that they could be discriminated against, or treated differently, to employees that choose to be in the office while 34% felt that they would be affected by the ‘noise rage’ if their colleagues were too loud with 21% of the men strongly agreeing compared to 18% of the women surveyed by the report.
The report also revealed that better equipment and technology (44%), attending meetings (34%), brainstorming, and collaboration (31%) were the main drivers for coming to the office in the future giving an impression that the traditional office setup was still a viable option for almost half of the country’s workforce.
The report, which surveyed hybrid and office workers who mostly use technology as part of their day-to-day official duties in the UAE, also found out that only 36% would spend two days working from home and three days going to the office. 23% of the workers surveyed said that they would work from home for just three days and only two days in the office.
The report comes in the wake of Poly’s new product lineup announcement for its new Pro-Grade video conferencing devices, which are set to debut at this year’s GITEX Technology Week. The Poly Studio X70 and Poly Studio E70, which are part of the Poly Studio family, are designed to upgrade the video collaboration experience and generate meeting equality by bringing pro-grade audio and video to large workspaces.
