Workplace dynamics are ever-changing. It’s not uncommon for change to occur slowly over time, taking decades rather than months. Now and then, though, something inspiring happens that changes everything for good. The Industrial Revolution, the way people get around, the desktop computer, and the web.
Today, we are witnessing another of these crucial moments with the hybrid working
phenomena, in which individuals can work from home with an occasional trip to the corporate headquarters. To understate the magnitude of what is happening is a grave error. The hybrid revolution will be viewed as just as significant as any other technological advance for many businesses.
Today, the workplace is no longer confined to a single physical location. It’s also a digital place.
The Top Ten Trends Shaping Work
Human-Centered Design
The physical workplace will continue to play an essential function as a space for cooperation and communal creativity despite the rise of the metaverse and online working platforms. In the future, what kind of workplace will we have? Many experts predict they will become social hotspots, with bars, wellness centers, large communal tables, and residential-style lounges coexisting together. Adaptable workspaces and a hybrid working paradigm will allow employees to make the most of these new resources according to their preferences and schedules, encouraging collaboration, forging personal connections, and exchanging ideas.
There will be no more cubicle farms. Instead, for years to come, workplace providers will be able to offer hubs that include everything from biophilic architecture and seamless video conferencing suites to sociable tables for sharing, hot desks that can be reserved via an app, and forums for team meetings.
Many firms will adopt the human-centered design to increase employee motivation, creativity, and a sense of community. But, of course, fun will play a role, too. Consider tech companies like Google, which already had Lego zones, slides, and bowling alleys built before the outbreak. Large corporations could benefit significantly from providing their staff with easy access to nearby parks and gardens. In addition, facial recognition technology could alleviate virus issues within the facility.
Workplace satisfaction directly impacts many other vital factors, including employee morale, well-being, productivity, and employee retention. Leading the way by hiring workplace managers, companies like Netflix and Jaguar Land Rover are making the shift and building positive cultures that manifest the brand values of their employees.
Although hybrid workers will only be in the office part-time, their social experiences will be highly motivating. Workplace experience managers can also help with team-building events, programs, and extracurricular activities, which are critical to fostering a sense of inclusion.
Greater Workforce Distribution
With employees being able to work from anywhere, companies will be able to recruit from a national or even global pool of candidates instead of just local ones. Working from anywhere will allow firms to find the best diverse candidates for every job. Employees who used to have long commutes or had to relocate to a city to work for their preferred company won’t have to do that in the future.
This model allows people to work from home and in flexible workspaces, but there will still be a strong demand for business headquarters as meeting places and locations for employees to interact. For example, a London-based corporation could hire a San Francisco-based employee for a job that previously required them to relocate. They can log on to Zoom from a Crawley coworking space and visit the transatlantic headquarters two or three times a year in the hybrid world.
Many forward-thinking businesses began implementing flexible work arrangements before the epidemic outbreak, but now, employees have many options. And if a company doesn’t allow it, individuals will search for a new employer. About half of office workers have indicated they would resign if forced to work five days a week again. Still, nearly three-quarters said they would choose hybrid working over a 10% salary raise if given the opportunity.
According to the US Labor Department, there were 4.4 million jobless Americans in September 2021, a record high. “A swing will follow the Great Resignation” in the opposite direction as employers battle to recruit talent with ever more enticing policies and incentives. At the same time, employees seek the hours, days, and places that best suit them.
According to the American Institute of Stress, companies in the United States lose $30 billion a year because of employee absenteeism. As a result, many businesses will be able to state with pride in the future that they are a member of the Caring Economy.
There are two primary reasons why workers are being distributed across borders. First, workers are relocating out of the cities to rural and coastal places where they may have a better work-life balance. Secondly, firms can recruit talent from more remote locations than they could previously.
The hub-and-spoke concept, in which employees have access to workspace closer to their homes, can be implemented by establishing a network of suburban flex space hubs that serve as handy satellites around a city center headquarters.
There are several benefits to having a more diverse workforce, including a better chance for marginalized individuals and communities to rise out of poverty.
Suburban Revolution
Hybrid working is changing the world, bringing back once-dormant small towns and small cities and increasing spending outside big cities. For example, those who work in a company now don’t have the same daily commute as before, which means they can live in cheaper places (like the suburbs). In addition, businesses can invest in coworking spaces that are easily accessible and cheaper than expensive corporate offices in big cities.
Changing the way people think about work and life is paving the way for a new way of living where people live in communities that have all the things they need, like schools, restaurants, and workspaces.
People will no longer move from their towns to cities searching for jobs. But, on the other hand, there will be more people who work in a mix of home and community flex spaces. This will lead to more jobs, but it will also lead to more spending, which will start a new era of suburbanization.
A recent IWG and Arup study looking at The United Kingdom’s countryside and suburban areas found that the growth of a variety of coworking and flexible workspaces for hybrid employees could lead to an annual spending boost of £327 million in the UK. In addition, new jobs will be created by these projects.
Reduced Commuting
With the increasing flexibility about the places and times people are employed, the hybrid design essentially removes rush hour – at the very least on certain weekdays – because workers are no longer compelled to go to and from a city center business each morning and evening. Not only does this save employees money, but it also alleviates stress. In addition, it allows for more time for health-enhancing activities like exercise and sleep, adding another layer of sustainability.
According to the TUC, the average daily commute in the UK was 59 minutes in 2019. Thus the time saved is significant. According to a report in the New York Times, the number of commutes lasting more than 90 minutes each way in the United States increased by 45 percent between 2010 and 2019. In many situations, the time it took to travel to work was not due to the distance from the workplace but rather congestion on the roads and a lack of public transportation.
The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for employees to eliminate the commute. However, it also means that many are electing to relocate away from large cities in favor of suburban lives. Recognizing that if they need to commute into the workplace, they can do it on an as-needed basis and continue it with a night or two away from home.
Hotel chain Accor responded to this trend by launching a Commute and Stay package in November 2021 for people who work at home and at the office at the same time. Accor says this makes it possible for people to stay in a city center for the night and a place to go out for the evening with customers, coworkers, and friends.
Human Relations
At the very least, there is an acknowledgment that humans are not commodities. For example, HR could be rebranded as human relations instead of referring to human resources because businesses recognize that happy employees perform better and invest in mental health, employee well-being, and enhanced communication channels.
Hybrid working epitomizes respect and individualization, ensuring that regardless of an employee’s demands, they will always have a location to work that suits them and the freedom to perform their duties beyond the constraints of a standard 9-5 workweek. With this in mind, the hybrid design naturally correlates with improved mental health, as individuals don’t have to sacrifice their interests for the sake of the organization.
Nike, Bumble, and KPMG are just a few examples of notable employers. In addition, the New York Times and Linkedin are allowing employees to take unannounced paid time off to recharge or work on a passion project to prevent widespread burnout. This is because stress is a massive issue for both organizations and individuals. Almost everyone has been overwhelmed by the pandemic’s effects.
Infinite Flexibility and Autonomy
As recently as a few years ago, businesses were reluctant to allow employees to work from home for fear that it would erode culture and productivity. It was the standard operating procedure for everyone to report to their desks.
Before the pandemic, employers determined the agenda. In this new world of work, the employees will decide what work looks like and how integrated with their lives. And innovative companies are figuring out how to get people to work for them in this new world of work. For example, Timewise, a flexible working consulting firm, says that since the pandemic, the percentage of job ads that offer flexible hours has almost doubled to 26%.
With a renewed emphasis on production and performance rather than time spent at a desk, initiatives such as a four-day workweek, successfully tested in Ireland and New Zealand, may potentially gain broader support.
Virtual Collaboration
Zoom had roughly 100 billion yearly meeting minutes at the end of 2019, but then the globe went into lockdown, and the use of its videoconferencing technology increased. From February through October of next year, Microsoft’s user base is expected to rise by 40 million daily active users, bringing 115 million. There were 250 million in July 2021.
With the popularity of hybrid working relying on cloud-based technology, everyone from small businesses to large organizations will use various online tools for virtual communication. There are already many innovative digital tools that assist hybrid employees in being more creative and interactive, from virtual whiteboards to workflow platforms.
Microsoft, Meta, and other IT businesses promote this notion of a metaverse. According to this theory, people will spend less time staring at screens in the following years and more time working, playing, or just hanging out in a different environment using virtual reality headsets and augmented reality glasses. Mesh VR and Microsoft’s Teams business communication platform are integrated to create a work-centered metaverse vision. Since we can all choose where our avatars meet virtually, videoconferences will look considerably different.
As 5G becomes more widely available, it will be a catalyst for this revolution in technology. The GSMA, a mobile network industry group, predicts that by 2025, 5G will be available to one-third of the world’s population. ‘ Virtual communication on mobile devices will be effortless and high-quality, with no delay.
Prioritize Sustainability
Reducing commuting may positively impact both the environment and human health, as seen by the blue skies observed over formerly smog-bound cities during lockdowns throughout the world. Moreover, hybrid functioning isn’t just good for the environment since it produces cleaner air. Even the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 can benefit significantly from this technology because it makes it possible to quickly and easily achieve significant environmental benefits in areas like enhancing sustainability and good health and well-being.
In 2022 and beyond, enterprises will be able to lower their overall carbon footprint through various means, including increased flexibility in how often they need to travel to a city center location. In addition, hybrid working is expected to lower corporate energy usage as many corporations downsize city center offices and include shared flexspaces.
Global Workspace Analytics says that if everyone in the US who could and wanted to work from home did so for half of the week, it would be like taking the entire New York State working population off the road. So even a slight cutback in air travel for business can make a big difference.
The hybrid work paradigm can also significantly reduce the gender divide in many workplaces. For example, primary caregivers are frequently required to work a full day while tending to children or other relatives. If both parents work in a hybrid capacity, they can share home tasks, with males picking up children from school or supervising toddlers.
Reevaluate Corporate Real Estate Return on Investment
One of the most significant expenses for a business is the cost of office space. A significant advantage of hybrid working is that it allows organizations to reduce their physical space requirements because workplaces no longer have to accommodate all personnel at once. Thus, corporations can raise their profit margins since their commercial real estate holdings have been reduced.
Even though some organizations are abandoning the traditional office in favor of home offices and coworking spaces, the general tendency will be to maintain an HQ that serves as the hub of activities. Rather than entering into expensive long-term office leases, firms that provide their employees access to third spaces can scale up or down according to the number of employees they have, whether they are expanding locally or globally.
With a smaller CRE footprint comes fewer utility rates, cleaning fees, and the cost of office equipment. It is estimated that for every employee that works remotely for half of the week, a typical firm may save $11,000 per year.
Employee Productivity Measurement
Employee commitment is no longer measured by how well an employee presents themselves but rather by how well they perform. Of course, from an employee’s point of view, they may prefer it if their bosses just trusted them to perform their job, but monitoring productivity makes sense from the standpoint of a business.
As more work is done in the cloud, it will be easier to track who is doing what and if goals are achieved. In addition, data in real-time will soon lead to new metrics of productivity to establish more efficient business processes.
Fresh thinking and creativity, for example, are difficult to quantify in the context of employee productivity. There are more million-dollar ideas created in the shower than at a desk, after all. So firms must provide employees with the space they need to think outside the box and the opportunity to cooperate with their coworkers.
6 Workplace Tips For Right Now
1. Accept that technology is a critical part of today’s work environment. Set up procedures that allow people to be productive no matter where they are.
2. The new work from anywhere paradigm can help you recruit people from all over the world and increase diversity within the organization.
3. Take the time to look into all the possible environmental benefits that hybrid working could have for your business.
4. Invest in the well-being of your employees and get the benefits of long-term commitment and performance.
5. Reduce corporate real estate and leasing costs by offering coworking options in the suburbs.
6. It’s important to think of the workplace as a place where people can come together and share ideas, laugh, and interact with one another.
The pandemic has already had a profound effect on the way most of us do our business. But, in reality, the hybrid revolution has started.
