The Corona crisis brought about major changes for many companies and their employees: from one day to the next, the workforce was able to work from home, video conferences replaced business trips and internal meetings were replaced by virtual meetings. Tarkett, an international manufacturer of sustainable flooring solutions, has incorporated these changes into its ongoing “Rethinking Workplace” study and in June of this year specifically asked office workers worldwide about their experiences during the pandemic. The results are now available and refute the assumption that employees would prefer to work from home: According to the study, over 87 percent of those surveyed believe that they are more productive in the office than in the home office.

The large-scale “Rethinking Workplace” study was launched in 2018, and a total of around 9,000 office employees worldwide have now been surveyed. In the latest part of the study, which this year focused on the pandemic, a total of 2,800 participants from 14 countries, including Germany, took part and reported, among other things, on their experiences and perceptions in the home office. The research, which is unique in the flooring industry, is currently investigating whether and how the workplace can and must adapt to the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. And the results of the first round speak a clear language: 87 percent of the European and even 90 percent of the respondents from Australia, China and the USA believe that they work more efficiently in the office than at home. The initial euphoria in the home office was soon followed by the realization that there is a lack of exchange with colleagues and personal collaboration.

“What is needed are offices that enable teamwork and take into account different ways of working despite the limitations. Flexibility is one of the very important keywords here,” sums up Anette Timmer, EMEA Marketing Director Carpets/Workplace at Tarkett. “The results also show that good indoor air quality is one of the key concerns. As developers and designers of floor coverings, we can make our contribution to sustainable work areas in this respect alone and have already done so in the past – among other things with three “Desso AirMaster” innovations, which promote a healthy workplace with fine dust binding, low VOC emissions and a Cradle to Cradle certificate in gold”.