Another week, another ‘Wave’ ???

5 news items from the world of work and workplace that you can digest in 5 minutes.

This week:

1. Research shows ‘third spaces’ support employee wellbeing
2. Flexible work options are drawing women back to the workforce
3. Our latest Hybrid Workplace Index is here

Employee Wellbeing: Coworking spaces help support employee wellbeing and counteract feelings of loneliness, reports Harvard Business Review . Their research showed that respondents experienced working from a ‘third space’, including cafes, hotel lobbies, friends’ homes, and coworking sites, as more socially fulfilling than working from the office (64%) or from home (67%). One major reason is that a coworking space offers not just the flexibility employees crave in terms of where they work, but also with whom. “Social autonomy is a basic need of employees, one that will continue to drive their employment decisions in the years to come.” Read Full Article.

It Works for Women: Women lost more jobs in the pandemic, but they’re also returning faster, reports The Washington Post . Rising costs, combined with more flexible work arrangements and remote options, are drawing women — and mothers in particular — back into the workforce at higher rates than their male counterparts. Although recessions typically result in widespread layoffs for men, the covid downturn was unique in that it took an outsize toll on women, both in terms of job losses and additional caregiving duties that kept many women out of the workforce for longer. “Women not only suffered disproportionately from job losses and work displacement early in the pandemic, but they were also most affected by child-care disruptions,” said Julia Pollak , Chief Economist at ZipRecruiter . “There was legitimate concern that there would be substantial labor-market scarring for women. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.” Read Full Article.

Make it Stick: How do you make hybrid great? Build ‘stickiness’, says Steelcase . Referring to the intangible thing that makes people want to hang out, VP Ron Martere said: “We’re starting to see now leading-edge organizations starting to realize, 'Okay, we’ve got them back. That was sort of the easy part, right? We mandated them to come back. Now we have to make that experience good and it’s got to support hybrid work.'” Collaborating with 美国纽约大学 sociologist Eric Klinenberg , Steelcase found that companies should be building “stickiness” in the office however possible. It isn’t just a foosball table and free lunch—it’s more like a favorite neighborhood, with options for how people gather. The furniture brand routinely surveys over 57,000 people around the world to understand trends in workplace sentiment. Read Full Article.

The Gift of Flex: Flexible working has been an ‘unexpected gift’ for employers, a recent survey from 世邦魏理仕 shows. Head of Human Capital, Georgina Fraser , highlighted the role this plays in the new employer-employee dynamic. “Our insights have shown us for a while now that flexible working is considered important to a large part of the workforce. However, what is new, is the quantifiable evidence that flexible, hybrid working can also benefit the employer. If companies can harness the increase in trust and connectivity that is created by hybrid working and use it to fuel creativity and innovation, it could be a win-win in unexpected ways.” Richard Holberton , Senior Director of Research, added: “In an environment where company leaders are seeking to find workable arrangements that reflect both individual preferences and corporate culture objectives, a hybrid offering has shown it can strengthen bonds rather than weaken them. Hybrid can be an unexpected gift for team leaders if they can harness it effectively.” Read Full Article.

Data-driven Insights from LiquidSpace: This week we published the second Hybrid Workplace Index. Providing data-driven insights into employee flexible office usage and workplace location, preference, and spend, the report provides key findings of actual employee behavior when given the opportunity to work from where it works. In this report we also take a look at booking trends across the Central Business District and suburbs in 3 key markets, and hybrid activity by day of the week. Read the report.