34% of British Employees Don’t Believe Their Workplace Enables Them to Work Productively

HqO unveils 2024 State of Real Estate Experience (REX) report, highlighting:

  • Two-thirds (67%) of global employees agree that workplace design contributes to their enjoyment in the office.
  • 43% of global employees do not believe their workplace contributes to environmental sustainability.
  • 89% of global employees feel that when they are in the office, focused work at a desk is the most important activity they need their workplace to support.

LONDON, UK, March, 27th, 2024 – HqO, the world’s leading real estate experience platform, announced today the release of its 2024 “State of Real Estate Experience (REX)” report. Leveraging global data from close to 400,000 employees across nearly 200 organizations, this report brings focus to the challenges and opportunities in front of property owners, operators, occupiers and investors, all through the lens of real estate end-users. With proprietary customer sentiment and preference data, HqO’s State of REX provides a crucial roadmap to understanding and navigating the complex real estate terrain by highlighting key REX trends reshaping the industry, the 2024 in-office must-haves, and an overview of the strategic approach businesses must adopt to succeed.

The fight to quality

Across the world, real estate leaders are grappling with significant obstacles, from high vacancy rates to sluggish economic growth. A critical cause, found by the State of REX report, is the lack of high-quality workspaces. This hindrance is a major productivity issue, affecting about 1 in 4 employees across the globe, and potentially derailing many businesses’ shift towards a successful work model.

“The industry is on a knife edge right now. While the overall economic picture is challenging, there are opportunities for owners and operators who focus on providing high-quality, real estate experiences within their spaces to succeed,” said Chase Garbarino, Co-Founder and CEO at HqO. “This year’s REX report underscores a crucial point: organizations need to not only measure and understand the preferences and sentiments of end-users of their real estate, but leverage those to create outstanding experiences. We now know, for example, that over two-thirds of employees agree that their workplace design contributes to their enjoyment and engagement when in the office. This is a clear indication that a positive real estate experience is vital to encouraging people into the office.”

Samuel Warren, VP (EMEA) of HqO, added: “Our State of REX report paints a particularly troubling picture for the real estate sector. Today, over 80% of EMEA employees agree that the design of their workplace is important to them, but 34% don’t believe their workplace enables them to work productively. If businesses are to grow and succeed, then they need to understand their real estate end-users’ experience, and make data-driven decisions to improve them.” 

Sustainable spaces – no longer a “nice to have”

The report findings highlight a growing focus on sustainability among occupiers and their employees. Research from Deloitte found that 69% of employees want companies to invest in sustainability efforts. Yet HqO data indicates that nearly half (43%) of employees do not believe that their workplace contributes to environmental sustainability. Businesses can close this gap by implementing and investing in projects that seek to decarbonise assets, operate buildings with greater efficiency and most importantly communicate these benefits to the users of the space. Engaging with the people that use spaces will help contribute towards more sustainable behaviours and outcomes. 

Only a customer-centric, data-driven approach will do

While significant challenges remain for the global real estate industry as a whole, there are major opportunities for those who get it right, which often means reverting to the basics. Focusing, for example on the top five office essentials uncovered in the report – a good desk, chair, access to refreshments, a high level of general cleanliness, and access to temperature control – will help deliver the deep-seated need for stability, reliability, and comfort employees want, and now demand from their work environment. 

“Adopting a customer-centric, data-driven approach doesn’t just translate to better decision making about the design and management of real estate experiences for the end-user, it enables owners and operators to impact their bottom line by driving tenant retention, leasing velocity, CapEx and OpEx optimisation, and increased NOI,” said Garbarino.

The State of REX compiles and reports on data gathered by HqO’s Intelligence product suite which measures and assesses the health and performance of a customer’s experience within a property. This proven methodology has been trusted over the last decade to solicit feedback from over 1.8 million employees from 8,000 workspaces.  

To download the full 2024 State of REX report please click here