Over the last year it has been clear that the move to remote working has been a success for many businesses, with productivity up, carbon emissions down and a decrease in the running costs that are associated with traditional office spaces. It’s no wonder that many business owners are considering making a permanent change to the way in which their company is operated and weighing up the options for moving to a flexi-working solution.
Although many businesses saw both pros and cons of having employees working from home, many teething issues such as connectivity problems as communication issues were ironed out and perfected over the course of 2020 and into early 2021. And whilst business owners repeated the rewards of saving money, it has also been seen that employees have reported a better work/life balance and an increase in job satisfaction during this time.
Flexible working solutions
The topic has been a hot one over the last few months as restrictions slowly ease, many businesses are waiting to see how things fare before making the decision to renew leases or rent out new office spaces. A lot of businesses it seems are looking at consulting with staff about a hybrid of home and office working, utilising flexible office spaces like the ones offered by us at The Workstation that don’t come with inflexible leases and long commutes for employees.
It is likely that major organisations will look at downsizing their large office bases to smaller more flexible spaces with coworking and hot desk solutions. The idea that staff need to come to a traditional office and work Monday – Friday 9-5 in the same space has altered significantly over the last year.
The main thing that businesses want to do is to embrace the best parts of working from home whilst preserving company culture. Therefore, utilising flexible office spaces that are open plan, set up specifically for collaboration and social distancing as well as a focus on being in convenient and desirable locations.
Many employees have enjoyed working from home but admit that having an office available for use is desirable. The office space is still important for a professional image when it comes to client meetings, team meetings, brainstorming sessions and more.
We look forward to seeing what the future of the traditional office space holds.