New research* has found that despite 75% of businesses reviewing their structure to adapt to new ways of working, less than half of workers believe their organisation will change its approach to collaboration. A further, 28% feel their organisation should change the way it collaborates but do not believe change will come.

The research asked 3000 employees across 15 industries and seven countries about their experiences and attitudes to workplace collaboration. While other studies have focused on employee engagement, this honed in on the state and impact of collaboration.

More than three-quarters of workers said they enjoyed collaboration in the workplace and almost half of workers believed they needed to collaborate more to be good at their job. However, nearly a third of employees feel their organisation should change the way it collaborates, but don’t believe it will.

Against the backdrop of plummeting employee engagement, recognising employee needs is critical. Organisations must take action to improve collaboration across the board.

Ilkka Mäkitalo, CEO of Howspace, said: “Many of today’s work and management practices are counterproductive and destructive for collaboration. While it is natural that leaders were seeking more control during the pandemic, the fact remains that people come to work to work together. Leadership needs to shift mindset from structure and control to one of designed collaboration that embraces both synchronous and asynchronous work. This requires inherently different management practices and working systems from where we are today.”

*Research from Howspace