Working life after COVID – a new survey reveals that a majority of people would like to continue working from home

A survey among Miltton’s clients and a wide selection of professionals from Finland and Sweden shows that despite its downsides, remote work is considered more efficient than office work.

A majority of respondents in Finland and Sweden feel positively or neutrally about remote work and would prefer that working life continued mostly remotely even after the pandemic has passed. 55% of respondents in Finland and 47% in Sweden would prefer to continue working fully or mostly remotely. While Miltton’s clients were not as enthusiastic about remote work as the larger group of respondents, most nevertheless hope that remote work becomes more common in the future.

According to the survey, remote work has brought to light our meeting and remote interaction skills and routines. Respondents suggest that basic meeting elements must be improved and reinforced, and digital skills strengthened. From their perspective, many organizations and team leaders seem to lack the skills and routines to build trust, engagement and a shared team spirit.

“COVID has really placed both our meeting and interaction skills and our human leadership skills under a spotlight. When Teams is your lifeline to both the productivity and the spirit of your workplace, ‘all on mute’ quickly kills both. We must use these insights in developing our workplaces and routines, even if we return to our offices”, explains Miltton’s Strategy Director Erik Bäckman.

When it comes to returning to the physical workplace, respondents expected clarity on how it should be done and on what a possible hybrid remote working model would look like. For many, there must be a clear reason, even perks, to return to the office after a year or so of virtual work. Open-plan offices are mentioned in many replies as something people feel wary of coming back to.

275 Miltton clients, 966 professionals in Finland and 940 in Sweden participated in Miltton’s Remote Work Survey.

Explore the results here.