London, United Kingdom: Cezanne HR, a leading provider of cloud-based HR software, has conducted ground-breaking research into the state of company culture in 2022 to discover what it really means to employees.

A shared physical workspace is seen as a vital part of the employee experience

Despite the popularity of remote and home working, Cezanne HR’s survey – carried out in February 2022 – revealed 63% of employees believed the physical workspace was an important part of a positive company culture. In fact, this feeling was even more evident with employees aged 54 and over, with a massive 85% of them saying that the physical place of work was vital.

Cezanne HR’s report also found that:

  • 75% of employees research a company’s culture when looking for a new role
  • 54% of employees would leave or have left a company because of poor company culture
  • 27% of employees put improved rewards and recognition as their top priority for improved company culture
  • 21% of employees cited improved mental health and wellbeing initiatives as an area for improvement
  • 34% of employees said a higher salary was most important to them when looking for a new role. Flexible working was cited by 14%.

Paul Bauer, Cezanne HR’s Head of Content commented that: “Home and remote working is something many employees are enjoying the benefits of – especially when it comes to a healthy work-life balance.”

“However, the role of the traditional workspace still plays a vital part in the employee experience. Not necessarily for working or completing your day-to-day duties, though. Rather, to act as a hub for your employees to meet, exchange ideas, socialise or simply enjoy those traditional ‘water cooler moments.’

Sharon Quinn, Head of HR for European technology firm ByrneLooby agreed with this assessment, saying “In an office, you can maybe go for a coffee break and chat with other people, which can spark creativity or ideas. These ad-hoc meetings and coffee breaks don’t work as well remotely as they can feel strange or ineffective for people.”

“Different people will have different circumstances. If they’re living alone or feeling isolated, going into an office or shared place of work and seeing other people could be something they enjoy or need on a day-to-day basis.”

Employees feel remote working can damage meaningful workplace relationships

Cezanne HR’s survey also revealed that 50% of employees felt hybrid and remote working were not beneficial to supporting great workplace relationships. Rather worryingly, nearly 31% of them believed that hybrid or remote working were outright harming them.

Speaking about the results, Paul went onto say that “Employees may not always want to work in the office, but that doesn’t mean they want to necessarily be apart from their colleagues.”

“Social interactions play a huge part in maintaining a healthy culture. Organisations need to make 2022 the year they engage with their people and find out how they can help their remote or flexible workers really feel part of a business, and not isolated or cast out on the peripheries.”

You can download the full report and further detailed insights by following this link.