The COVID19 Pandemic has changed the world. One of the most profound changes has been how, where, when and sometimes even why we work.
The top trend of the modern workplace is Hybrid Working. Hybrid, or flexible working, is a mix of working in an office setting, at home or possibly even in a third space like a café, park or coworking space.
Unlike a fully remote or fully in-person model, hybrid attempts to combine the flexibility of working from home with the collaboration and culture benefits of being together in a workplace. While many organizations found that teams could stay productive while remote during the pandemic, a growing number of studies show a significant need to return to the workplace for most organizations. Accenture, for example, recently reported that workers prefer a hybrid model 83% of the time. And it’s actually the younger generation leading the charge back to in-person, with over 74% of Gen Z respondents claiming they prefer interactive with colleagues face-to-face.
Hybrid working means something different for each organization due to all the variables involved, here are the questions decision makers are asking:
- Will spaces be assigned or unassigned, which we sometimes call free address.
- How many days in the office vs out of office will employees be working, what days, what times?
- How will capacity and utilization be managed in the workplace? How will available spaces be reserved? Will teams be clustered in neighborhoods for collaboration? Can teams be coordinated to come into the workspace with those they would most productively collaborate with?
- Does an organization assume any responsibility (or liability) to support their team members in their homes, be it furnishing their home office, providing ergonomic support and addressing technology needs and costs?
- How will we connect in-person and remote teams? To that extent, do we need to rethink meeting space design, floorplans and common spaces? Should our spaces be less dense? What security or screening policies will we have for employees and visitors? How will we communicate all this change and how can we best future proof?
The right solution for a company can be found through peer-to-peer sharing, working with a capable team and building agility and flexibility into space plans and strategies to change, tweak and adjust when timing is right.
Furniture dealerships can help customers navigate this quickly changing landscape and guide clients to successful hybrid working arrangements and spaces that support them. The key will be to leverage strategies and solutions that are as agile, dynamic and flexible as the spaces we are now creating.
