Eighty per cent of employees in India want a better reason to return to the office beside the company’s expectations, a report revealed on Thursday. However, they would be motivated to work from the office for other reasons.

Ninety-one per cent of the employees want to go to the office if they are allowed to socialise with their co-workers, and 92 per cent would work from the office on the prospect of building team bonds, findings from the 2022 Work Trend Index Pulse Report released by Microsoft showed.

The report further showed a growing disagreement between the leaders and the employees on the issue of hybrid work and work from home.

Ninety-three per cent of employees said that they are productive at work. On the other hand, 91 per cent of leaders believed that hybrid work has made it difficult to have confidence in employees’ productivity.

“To bridge this gap, a new approach is needed that recognises work is no longer just a place, but an experience that needs to keep employees engaged and connected, no matter where they are working from,” Bhaskar Basu, country head for Modern World at Microsoft, said.

Due to the “hyper focus” on productivity, 47 per cent of employees and 58 per cent of leaders reported that they are “already burnt out” at work.

The findings of the Microsoft report further revealed that more and more employees are looking for opportunities for learning and growing while working.

“90 per cent of employees in India say that they’d stay at their company longer if they could benefit more from learning and development opportunities,” it said. Globally, this average is 76 per cent.

Underlining the relationship between skill development and attrition, the report said, “66 per cent of employees in India say the best way to develop their skills is to change companies”.

“Thriving employees are what will give organisations a competitive advantage in today’s ever-evolving economic environment,” Basu added.

Further, 44 per cent of employees in India said their companies do not solicit employee feedback.

“It’s imperative that leaders need to create clarity and alignment around company goals, eliminate busywork that doesn’t support those goals and listen to their people,” the report added.