Xymax Real Estate Institute

TOPIC REPORTThe Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The relationship between hybrid work and companies, mediated by “workengagement”

May 24, 2023

In recent years, “work engagement” has drawn attention as a company’s indicator for personnel strategy.
“Work engagement” refers to a worker’s positive and fulfilled state of mind toward work. It is generally
believed that multiple factors, such as the workplace environment and a feeling of self-efficacy, affect workengagement. With the rapid spread of telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has triggered adrastic transformation of the workplace, there has been growing interest in the impact of a hybrid work
style, which involves workers working from a diverse range of places, on work engagement.
Against this background, Xymax Real Estate Institute (“Xymax REI”) surveyed employees of the Xymax
Group (the “Survey Respondents”) to explore the relationship between office workers’ place of work andwork engagement. In principle, all Survey Respondents adopt hybrid work, working from the main office
and a satellite office or home.
In this report, we aim to provide a guide for companies that intend to promote a hybrid model in thefuture by conducting a step-by-step analysis of the work styles that can maximize work engagement
among these workers and how such work styles affect the outcomes that companies want to achieveultimately.

Main Findings•

Those with high work engagement tend to have high outcomes (the results that companies
want to achieve ultimately), such as retention and productivity.

•Hybrid workers (those who use both the main office and telework) tend to have high workengagement. In particular, hybrid workers who use a satellite office tend to have higher
work engagement than hybrid workers who only work from home.

•The group of respondents who can choose where to work tends to have a more significant
proportion of hybrid workers who use a satellite office.

•These results suggest that offering workers autonomy in where to work and a satellite office
option leads to higher work engagement and potentially higher outcomes for thecompany.*1*1 This analysis is based on cross-sectional data at one point in time, and causality cannot be confirmed.

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate InstituteWork Engagement and Outcome
For this survey, we adopted the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) under the advice of ProfessorAkihito Shimazu of Keio University to calculate work engagement scores from responses on a 7-point scale(from 0 to 6) to questions of a total of nine items—three items for each of the three subfactors of work
engagement, namely “vigor,” “dedication,” and “absorption.”As the first verification step, we identified what it means to increase employees’ work engagement. We
calculated the percentage*2 of those who replied “Applies” to the four items of “retention,” “productivity,”“in-role performance,” and “extra performance,”*3 which may offer direct benefits to companies, for the
top 25% group in terms of work engagement score and for the remaining, standard group. Figure 1 showsthe evaluation of each outcome of the top 25% group as a ratio against the standard group.
*2*3

See the text in Figure 1 for the meaning of each item
The sum of the percentages of those who replied “Applies” or “Applies somewhat” on a 5-point scaleranging from “Applies” to “Does not apply”

The top 25% group had a higher percentage of “Applies” in all four items, especially in productivity(148% relative to the standard group) and extra performance (145% relative to the standard group). Thissuggests that a positive relationship exists between work engagement and the evaluation of each outcome
and that increasing employees’ work engagement may benefit companies.
Figure 1: Evaluation of Each Outcome (Ratio) – By Work Engagement

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not bereproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

2TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate InstituteWorkplace Options and Work Engagement
We then divided the usual work styles of the respondents into three groups of “telework only,” “hybridwork,” and “come to office only,” and compared the average work engagement score of each group toexplore the relationship between where to work and work engagement. For reference, the percentage ofeach group among the Survey Respondents was, in order of highest to lowest coming-to-office ratio, cometo office only 4.0%, hybrid work 87.7%, and telework only 8.3%.
Figure 2 shows the ratio of the scores when the average work engagement score for the “come to officeonly” group is 100%. The score of hybrid workers is high at 110% relative to that of the “come to officeonly” group and slightly higher than the “telework only” group. This suggests that hybrid work, which
involves workers both coming to the office and teleworking, might be the best way to increase work
engagement.
Figure 2: Average Work Engagement Score (Ratio) – By Work StyleWe then examined whether there is any difference in work engagement among hybrid workers between
the different combinations of workplaces. For reference, the percentage of each workplace combination
among hybrid workers was 71.6% for “Come to office & work in satellite office*4” and 25.4% for “Come tooffice & work from home only,” with only 3.0% for other combinations.*5*4 Either with or without working from home or any other location*5 Includes “Come to office & work in satellite office only,” etc.

When comparing the work engagement of these two majority groups, the work engagement of hybrid
workers who “come to the office & work in a satellite office” was significantly higher than that of hybrid
workers who “come to the office & work from home only” at 117% (Figure 3). This suggests a positive
relationship between work engagement and the ability to work not only from home but also in a satellite
office in a hybrid work model.
Figure 3: Average Work Engagement Score (Ratio) – By Combination of Workplace

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate InstituteWe have confirmed that hybrid workers who “come to the office & work in a satellite office” tend to havehigher work engagement than hybrid workers who “come to the office & work from home only.” What arethe differences behind this? When comparing the percentage of time each group of respondents spends
in their usual place of work, we found that hybrid workers who “come to the office & work in a satelliteoffice” use a wide range of places in a more balanced way than hybrid workers who “come to the office &work from home only,” even working from home for 26.2% of the time (Figure 4). This suggests that thedifference in work engagement between the two groups may not only be attributed to the difference
between working in a satellite office and working from home but also to the diversity of the places of work.
Figure 4: Percentage of Time Spent in Each Workplace – By Combination of Workplace

Autonomy in Where to Work and Workplace Options
Then, how can companies encourage workers to use diverse workplaces, including satellite offices? The
first thing companies can do will be to provide physical choices by establishing a satellite office base orcontracting a flexible office service. Secondly, it will be necessary to authorize workers to use such basesand services. Satisfying these conditions means that workers can choose where to work autonomously,
encouraging workers to use various places.
We then aggregated the combinations of workplaces according to whether workers can autonomously
choose where to work*6 and found that the group of respondents who can choose autonomously has asignificantly higher proportion of hybrid workers who “come to the office & work in a satellite office” than
the group of respondents who cannot choose autonomously (Figure 5).
*6 Those who replied “Can choose” or “Can choose to some degree” on a 5-level scale ranging from “Canchoose” to “Cannot choose” to the question “Can you usually choose where to work autonomously?” werecategorized as the group of respondents who “can choose autonomously,” those who replied “Neither cannor cannot choose” as the group of respondents who “neither can nor cannot choose,” and those who
answered “Cannot choose” or “Cannot choose that much” as the group of respondents who “cannot chooseautonomously.”

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not bereproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate InstituteThis suggests that there is a positive relationship between autonomy in where to work and using asatellite office and that, based on the results of Figures 3, 4, and 5, giving workers autonomy encourages
the use of a variety of places, resulting in higher work engagement.
Figure 5: Combination of Workplace – By Ability to Choose Where to WorkWhen we explored the characteristics of those who spend a large percentage of their time in a satellite
office, we found that those who replied that their current situation applies to “Home environment notsuited for work” work in a satellite office for 43.6% of their total working hours, which is more than doublethat of those whose current situation does not apply (Figure 6). There was no significant difference
between those whose current situation applies to other situations, such as childcare and nursing care, andthose whose current situation does not apply.
Figure 6: Percentage of Time Spent in Satellite Offices – By Current Situation

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate InstituteConclusion
The results of this report suggest a positive relationship between where to work and work engagement
and between work engagement and outcome. Although work engagement is a difficult indicator forcompanies to control since it is affected by complex factors, including workers’ individual characteristics, it
should be possible to give employees the authority to choose where to work autonomously and to provide
various workplace options. The suggestion that this will contribute to workers’ work engagement and leadto outcomes (Figure 7) should be useful food for thought for companies struggling with workplacestrategies.
Figure 7: Relationship Suggested by Verification

We also found that workers whose home environment is not suited for work spend more time in satellite
offices than workers whose home environment is suited. This result also suggests how important it is forcompanies adopting a hybrid work model to provide workplace options other than the home and give
workers the authority to choose where to work. Xymax REI will continue to provide information that will
help companies find the optimal solution amid a diversity of workplace strategies to choose from.

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute
Survey Overview
The Survey on Where to Work and Work Engagement was conducted in two phases: The preliminary survey
to identify the respondents’ attributes and basic work style, and the main survey, a consecutive survey over ten
business days. This report is an analysis of the results of the preliminary survey. We plan to release the analysis
results of the main survey in a future report.
Survey on Where to Work and Work Engagement(Joint study with Shimazu Laboratory of Keio University)
Survey title

Preliminary survey
The survey analyzed in this report

Main survey

Objective

To narrow down the list of those who cancooperate in the main survey and obtain basic
data (e.g., attributes, usual work style)

To analyze the relationship between office
workers’ place of work and work engagement
and publicize the results

Targetrespondents

1,110 employees of the Xymax Group working inTokyo669 respondents of the preliminary survey

Survey period

October 31–November 11, 2022
Response frequency: Once

November 28–December 9, 2022
Response frequency: 10 business days x once perday

Number of
respondents

669 (Response rate: 60.3%)624 (Response rate: 93.3%)

Number ofdata subject
to the analysis

651 (Excluding 18 whose basic attributes cannot
be identified)

4,365 in total

Attributes of Respondents of the Preliminary Survey

AgeGenderJob%

n20s

30.0%

195

30s

32.4%

211

40s

25.2%

164

50s or older

12.5%

81

Male

45.9%

299

Female54.1%

352

General manager

4.0%

26

Senior manager

8.0%

52

position Manager

26.0%

169

Member

62.1%

404

Job
category

Commutetime tohead
office%n

Clerical

33.9%

221

Sales

25.5%

166

Specialist

20.1%

131

Corporate staff

13.1%

85

Business planning

7.4%

48

Less than 30 min.

9.5%

62

Less than 45 min.

25.2%

164

Less than 60 min.

35.8%

233

Less than 90 min.

23.8%

155

More than 90 min.

5.7%

37

The percentage mix in the charts contained in this report is rounded to the first decimal place and, therefore, may not add up to 100%.

For further inquiries please contact below
Xymax Real Estate Institutehttps://soken.xymax.co.jp | E-MAIL: info-rei@xymax.co.jp

TOPIC REPORT: The Benefits of Hybrid Work for Companies
The contents of this report are as of the time of writing. Xymax Real Estate Institute does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. This report may not be
reproduced, cited, transmitted, distributed, or reprinted without prior permission of Xymax Real Estate Institute.
Copyright © 2023 Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation. All rights reserved.

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