As businesses prepare for a return to the office, are people ready to embrace more change in their working lives?

58 % of people consider themselves an advocate for change
Upskilling seen as less desirable than before the pandemic, with 78% preferring to change career than upskill for an existing role
Digital technology takes on new importance but 70% of people would still prefer meeting face-to-face
42% would choose ease and convenience over sustainability

58 % of people consider themselves an advocate for change
Upskilling seen as less desirable than before the pandemic, with 78% preferring to change career than upskill for an existing role
Digital technology takes on new importance but 70% of people would still prefer meeting face-to-face
42% would choose ease and convenience over sustainability

Despite a challenging working year, 58% of people consider themselves an advocate for change, seeing the new normal as an opportunity to improve the world around them and would jump at the chance to drive positive change forward, according to new results from an online quiz run by Epson.

During the most turbulent year in decades, Epson looked to re-address the core questions surrounding the changing workplace and established a simple method of understanding people’s attitudes towards change. Inspired by popular psychology-based personality tests, an online quiz was developed to capture a snapshot of people views, building on findings from previous future workplace research run by Epson in 2017.

Findings suggest there are mixed attitudes towards change: while individuals seem less willing to upskill in order to maintain an existing role than they were before the pandemic, preferring now to change career entirely, some old values still hold strong with people still preferring face-to-face meetings to the video conferencing we are currently all experiencing.

The changing workplace

This growth of the ‘change advocate’ mindset could help to shape the future of our digital, flexible and shared workplaces. While home working has become the new normal and will likely lead to an increase in remote and hybrid working moving forward, business leaders need to be aware of the value still seen in face-to-face meetings. In fact, close to 70% of people would still prefer meeting face-to-face than virtually if they have the option. This insight could help inform the technologies selected for office spaces, with collaborative visual solutions likely to be better received that phone conferencing, for example. And the ability to meet physically better still.

The changing workplace

Considering the environment

It could be argued that the environmental benefit of reduced travel would outweigh the benefits of meeting in person, but it appears this is not the view of many. While over 58.3% of people see the ‘new normal’ as an opportunity to advocate for positive change, ease and convenience was scored equally to environmental impact by respondents when forced to make the choice during the quiz. This suggests that choosing the right technology solutions, that deliver on both sustainability and usability factors will be key.

Considering the environment

Skills development

Improving digital and green skills may be critical for the economy, but we see some reluctance from respondents with 78% of people claiming they would opt to change job before upskilling. 50% also say they are happy as generalists, without identifying a particular specialist skill set. While this demonstrates a need for stability and continuity when it comes to work focus, it does mark a change in mindset: in 2017, our previous study found that 65% of people would prefer to retrain for a role if theirs was threatened by change.

Skills development

“While it’s great that many people consider environmental impact when making decisions despite difficult circumstances, it’s disappointing that almost equal numbers prioritised ease and convenience over and above sustainability. Given this, it’s increasingly vital that business leaders and technology manufactures such as Epson remove the need to make that choice and provide solutions that deliver on both counts when it comes to workplace solutions,” says Maria Eagling, Director of Marketing at Epson Europe. “We have always been careful to ensure accessibility and reliability without compromising on sustainability, and given this insight, this was the right approach.”

For decades, Epson has helped businesses and consumers to navigate change by understanding their needs and by providing innovative technologies. These technologies have played crucial roles in the last year, helping business adapt to social distancing while remaining productive and will continue to do so as we navigate a new future.