Publication of the European study Kardham Urban Journeys

Outside the workplace, a strong impact of the spatial journey

The development of telecommuting has raised a number of common-sense questions, as working from home competes with working on site. Employees are looking for fluid spatial routes to facilitate their working day. The average commute time for Europeans surveyed is between 30 and 40 minutes. The main means of transport used is the car. Transport stress influences the whole working day. In this respect, the French are more stressed than the Dutch or Germans (scores of 5.4, 3.4 and 3.7 out of 10 respectively). Employees who cycle are less stressed than others, by -25%.

The influence of the working neighbourhood is important

The study shows that employees who rate the safety of their working environment negatively compared to their home area have lower QWL scores. The question of location is therefore a key factor in satisfaction with the working environment. 

An office presence that favours QWL 

With telecommuting, on-site presence is reduced. Telecommuting is considered to be conducive to QWL, but our study indicates that on-site presence 3-4 days a week is conducive to QWL, unlike presence for a single day. (Scores of 6.4 versus 4.6 out of 10). Not coming to the office frequently would therefore not be conducive to QWL. 

European employees experience average comfort at the office, and prefer an assigned individual desk

Office comfort scores are average in Europe (scores out of 10 of 6 for the French, 5.2 for the Germans and 4.9 for the Spanish). Psychological comfort generally gets the lowest scores, after functional comfort and physical comfort. The QWL index is better for employees in assigned offices than for those in flex offices. (Scores of 5.9 versus 4.6). The Dutch are the most likely to be in a flex office (41%), ahead of the British (29%). The French are 16% in this configuration. 

A study that offers a global perspective on tertiary work environments

The “ Urban Journeys ‘ study sets out to identify the factors that contribute to European employees’ satisfaction with their working environment throughout their working day, by examining the major stages in their journey. Conducted by researchers in the humanities and social sciences, with a level of ambition aimed at professional and academic publications, 'Urban Journey' is aimed at professionals involved in work environment issues. It explores a dimension that is often underestimated: beyond the quality of the workspaces offered to occupants, it is indeed the entire spatial experience in the city that influences satisfaction and the feeling of comfort. For office workers to be satisfied and successful, we need to think inside and outside the office building!

« With the development of remote working, we wanted to study work environments on a wider scale than just the workplace. The urban scale seems appropriate for examining new ways of working, which are now multi-spatial. Our mission as designers of work environments requires us to broaden our scale of reflection, because to better understand employees' expectations of their workplace, we need to grasp their overall experience to make it fluid and satisfying. Kardham's various businesses already deal with this outside-in duality, so this study also feeds into our global approach », Nicolas Cochard, R&D Director at Kardham.