The Future of Work Survey 2024

• A desire to increase and rebalance organizational headcount, in an attempt to recruit the right talent and skills to be future-ready;
  
• A strong focus on organizational efficiency that requires smarter long-term investment decisions;
  
• Competing visions of ‘how work should be done’ to achieve the best performance – often coexisting within the same organization;
  
• An attempt from ‘Office advocates’ to promote equal work practices among their workforce and to design more inclusive workplaces;
  
• The recognition that flexibility in workstyles is the best way to strengthen organizational performance among ‘Hybrid adopters’;
  
• Finally, an opportunity for CRE teams to contribute to the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) discussion, by defining a compelling and evolutionary office model for their organization.
  

Despite the tight labor markets, the recent mass layoffs in several industries and the rise of AI and automation, survey respondents feel positive about the future. 64% expect their headcount to increase by 2030. But a rebalancing of skills is also taking place, as employers are looking to recruit the right profiles that will enable them to be future-fit.

The three most-cited corporate goals in the 2024 survey are: growing revenue through new markets and M&A, attracting and retaining talent and achieving organizational efficiency. The latter raises ongoing questions around the best ways to achieve smart growth and to reconcile potentially competing expectations, leaving organizations with a delicate balancing act. What’s the best way to secure organizational efficiency and attract the right talent? Should employees work together in the office, taking advantage of face-to-face interactions? Or should they be offered maximum flexibility, to allow them to decide where and when they can perform at their best? And what type of workplaces should CRE teams offer?

While approaches to office attendance vary widely, decision makers appear ready to invest. 65% of respondents said they expect their overall CRE budget to increase between now and 2030, but it will have to be invested cleverly and responsibly, in a context where CRE teams are still struggling to be perceived as value drivers and not merely cost centers.

The 2022 Future of Work survey found that 77% of decision makers thought hybrid work was key to attracting talent, however in 2024 the momentum has moved strongly towards office-based work. There is now a broadly even split between those organizations which favor some form of hybrid workstyles and those expecting to see employees back in the office full time.

Today, 44% of organizations can be characterized as ‘Office advocates’, who would like to see staff in the office five days a week. This compares to just 34% of employees working full time in the office in 2022. Meanwhile, the remaining 56% of ‘Hybrid adopters’ are operating a range of strategies from fully remote to at least three days a week in the office.

The 2024 Future of Work survey underscores the evolving nature of work patterns and the consequential expectations placed on CRE. Organizations are actively seeking support from CRE to address their dynamic short and long-term requirements, while also grappling with the simultaneous and possibly contradictory need for both efficiency and growth.

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