Old Ways Won’t Open New Doors

“It is not a crisis of office anymore, it is a crisis of work.” - Dror Poleg recently posted to LinkedIn, in a post that deeply resonates with me. It’s apparent that the return to the office mandate is no longer valid, and companies now must accept that a flexible future is here. In the next two years, generational workplace preferences will encourage at least 75% of companies to adapt to hybrid working, predicts management consultancy Gartner.

According to Fortune, 10% of US job roles advertised on Linkedin in December 2023 were for remote jobs - those postings received 46% of all applications. It’s incredibly eye-opening which leaves room to conclude what employees are looking for when it comes down to working lifestyles.

A fully remote setup definitely allows the largest talent pool ever. But if you want to attract a hybrid setup, it's not a question about the location of your HQ alone, it’s also thinking about your team’s commute – and factors such as cost, time, and ability.

To empower people to work from anywhere, the nuances of hybrid work must be better understood. Gartner has identified four modes of intentional collaboration, including:

• working together, together: “when teams are colocated, contributing to meetings in a shared space.”

• working together, apart: “when teams are distributed, but participating in virtual meetings.”

• working alone, together: “when teams are distributed, but participating in virtual meetings.”

• working alone, apart: “when teams are distributed, and individuals are conducting deep focus work.”

“Empowering employees to have equitable access to all work modes…will require a more intentional redesign of collaboration around the four work modes,” declares Gartner.

The power of technology

High on the priority list, technology can open doors to new ways of working. With laptops, tablet devices, smartphones, and cloud computing, working from anywhere is now a reality for many, while top-of-the-range office equipment supports people who also wish to work from home.

Digital tools, including Microsoft Teams, Google Suites, Slack messaging, and Zoom bridge the gap between physical and virtual workspaces, facilitating more meaningful connections and building stronger teams along the way.

In 2022, JLL reported that “69% [of companies] have already introduced, or will introduce…technology to boost in-office collaboration.”

But the office isn’t dead, yet

Despite the relevance of technology to unlocking ways of hybrid working, the workplace is where collaboration, social interaction, and community happen. “Physical workplaces remain key for businesses to attract and retain talent, convey corporate culture, and enhance employee productivity,” says Lisette van Doorn, CEO of Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe.

Before 2020, corporates were shrinking office space, and taking up flexible leases “in an effort to reduce capital expenditure and attract new talent.” Between 2020 and 2022, global demand for flex offices increased by 29% – a trend that Knight Frank expects to “continue as real estate adapts to be even more customer-centric.”

Are 15-minute cities becoming a reality?

Even further, flexible workspaces are no longer found solely in the CBD. Many workers living in outer urban areas, opt for active travel commutes – a 15-minute walk or bike ride, for instance.

Local coworking spaces, and third spaces (high-street coffee shops and hotel lobbies, for instance) are becoming more popular, facilitated by the work-from-anywhere trend, and the concept of the 15-minute city (repurposing every piece of land for services that people use every day in their lives).

Coworking consultant Marc Navarro believes that workspaces located within walking distance of an employee’s house will be more frequently used. The benefits of local workspaces are limitless, but most significantly, local coworking empowers people. This grows the economic wealth of a local area and creates thriving communities.

SALTO WECOSYSTEM

Embodying a commitment to innovation across all our SALTO Systems companies, the SALTO WECOSYSTEM demonstrates the collective power of smarter access to places, experiences, and opportunities. This aligns very well with our tagline within the flexible workspace sector: Community is the Key.

We’re a community born out of a common goal: empowering access, in every sense – access to places, experiences, and opportunities. We’re all about creating a seamlessly connected world for more people.

We’re embracing the latest technologies and prioritising the open exchange of ideas to unlock new ways of working – so we can keep pushing, keep innovating, and keep delivering solutions that enable people to access more together.

Read a previous article written by Christian on Rethinking the Workplace

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