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ITOKI CORPORATION (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Koji Minato) has released the "Office Worker Awareness Survey - Towards Building an workers in 2025," which surveyed approximately 5,000 full-time employees and managers nationwide (※) to find out their attitudes toward work styles and office environments, as well as factors that improve satisfaction.
In recent years, office construction has come to be recognized as a part of human capital investment, and many companies are looking to reconstruct their office environments. However, many issues remain, such as the conflict between returning to the office and introducing hybrid work, and the practicality of introducing hot desking offices in one company. This survey is designed to help resolve these issues. In addition to general issues when constructing an office, it focuses on the management issue of "employee turnover and labor shortages," and also analyzes and introduces the state of communication in the office and feelings of loneliness.
* Those whose workplace involves more than 50 employees and whose work involves more than 60% desk work

The nationwide work remotely implementation rate is heavily influenced by the implementation rate in Tokyo, Tokyo and three prefectures*1 (Tokyo, Tokyo and three prefectures: other prefectures = 44.1%: 20.8%). In the future, offices may become polarized.
Although hot desking are on the rise, the adoption rate of island-style desks is still high at 47.7%, or around half, but the productivity gains*2 are low.
- The ideal way to come to work is full-time, at 48.4%, exceeding hybrid work at 43.6%.
・15.5% of office workers *3 have felt more lonely in the office over the past year.
The breakdown of communication forms that have increased in the past year is 40.2% online and 35.2% in person, with the online trend increasing, but office workers feel highly productive prefer in-person communication.
*1 The one metropolis and three prefectures refers to Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures.
*2 "Perception of productivity" refers to the degree to which one feels that one's work is highly productive.
In this survey, measurement is based on responses to the question, "Do you feel you are able to do your job productively?"
*3 In this survey, "office workers" refers to full-time employees and managers who perform approximately 60% of their desk work in the office.

Click here to download the detailed survey results

The percentage of people working work remotely nationwide in December 2024 will be 31.7%. In a survey conducted in May 2011, it was 26.7%, and in May 2024, it was 19.9% (previous survey), which showed a temporary trend of returning to the office, but the trend has now reversed and is on the rise. However, when broken down by place of work, the Tokyo metropolitan area and three prefectures saw a 44.1% figure compared to 20.8% in other prefectures, a difference of more than double, with the Tokyo metropolitan area and three prefectures leading the way.
The implementation of work remotely will have a major impact not only on working styles but also on office structure and design, so there is a possibility that offices will be largely divided between the Tokyo metropolitan area, the three prefectures, and the other prefectures.

The most popular method for coming to the office was "full-time attendance (completely in the office)" at 48.4%, followed by "hybrid (combination of remote and office)" at 43.6%. "Completely work remotely" was only 8.0%.
Many respondents ideally prefer a work style that includes going to the office, and there is limited need for "fully work remotely." Reasons given for wanting to go to the office include "switching between ON and OFF" and "necessary facilities and resources." Currently, it is thought that many tasks can be performed work remotely, but it appears that there is a desire to put into practice the latent and actual functions of the office.

The overall group that experienced an increase in feelings of loneliness was 15.5%. In terms of office layout, the most flexible hot desking (a format in which each person does not have their own seat) was the most common at 21.0%. In addition, when broken down by age, it tended to be more prevalent among younger people. One of Advantage of having more flexible seating arrangements is that it increases opportunities for communication, but it is important to consider this in conjunction with operations.

This survey was conducted with the aim of conducting research and analysis that will lead to support for the most recent issues in office construction. As a result, it can be seen that it is important to consider solutions from multiple perspectives, rather than one-sided solutions.
For example, while it is true that a "hot desking" where each person does not have their own seat has shown results that show a high level of productivity, it also shows a high rate of employees feeling lonely in the office. Feeling lonely can lead to employees quitting their jobs, so it is important to consider this together with the operational method.
Additionally, there were some large gaps between the various issues we covered and the other prefectures. It is thought that these differences are due to factors such as the conditions for building offices (office area, rent, etc.). General problem-solving methods do not apply to everything. Although information is now easily available and there are many examples of office construction, this survey made us realize once again the importance of considering methodologies and success stories from multiple angles.
We hope that this document will help broaden your perspective on solving problems and assist in finding a fundamental solution.

Executive Officer, ITOKI CORPORATION CORPORATION, Central Research Laboratory, Senior Researcher
Hiroaki Ninoyu