Future of Work and Living Space!

As per a recent survey by Gartner, about 48% of employees may be working remotely post Covid. With it being logistically impossible to provide company owned workspaces to the employees working remotely across locations, there is a rising trend of hiring managed office and shared working spaces that operate on a pay-per-use basis. Business leaders must then adopt a flexible approach and factor in managed 3rd party office spaces while planning the return-to-work strategies in the times ahead. Workspaces of the future will be all about mental, physical, and emotional wellness for better productivity and overall employee satisfaction. They will incorporate a green eco-friendly environment and biophilia, apart from lighting and décor, ergonomic furniture, and breakout zones intended at reducing stress and anxiety at work as well as encouraging well-being and sustainability.

Improving employee experience and building trust and real-time communication will be key to establishing lasting relationships with the workforce. The focus will be on humanizing work and ensuring the well-being of employees. It is no longer about just offering a comfortable workplace but rather investing in community building through idea sharing, partnerships, and collaborations. Integration of recreational features, aesthetics that enhance positivity, and easy digital access to various support services, utmost emphasis on hygiene etc. are some of the things that will add value to the workspaces. Technology has now made it possible to build highly digitized workspaces which are smart, intuitive and automate optional touchpoints. Sensor-based taps, coffee dispensers that work on QR scan basis instead of the need to press buttons, facial recognition-based entry points, automated parking areas, etc., now enhance ease and reduce touch at managed workspaces.

Client meetings and emails could be picked up alongside a pint of milk and a box of eggs under a new deal between Tesco and flexible office operator IWG. From this month, the owner of office operator Regus is testing out a 3,800 sq ft flexible working area within Tesco’s New Malden supermarket, with room for 12 private desks, 30 co-working spaces and a meeting room. All with excellent light and Wi-Fi connections. It is literally about having your work-desk besides a grocery aisle. I have a feeling the demand may be high for the work-desk that will be closer to the aisle selling beers and wines! Whatever it is, the tie-up emerges as supermarkets look for new ways to fill space in stores where they once sold electrical goods, music or films now largely bought digitally!

The office venture, called Spaces, will join other Tesco partners including sports equipment seller Decathlon, Pets at Home, InPost parcel lockers, Holland & Barrett health food stores and the likes of Timpson and Vision Express, which have sprung up to fill spare supermarket space. The deal also reflects a boom in flexible working space spurred on by months of pandemic restrictions that forced businesses to get more comfortable with allowing employees to work from home or elsewhere. Facilities are springing up on local high streets and in redundant space in shopping centers, cinemas and airports as many businesses downsize their permanent office space permanently and allow workers to dial in from somewhere handier. Electrical goods retailer Currys, for example, recently announced a deal under which more than 1,000 of its head office staff can use more than 50 sites run by rival office specialist WeWork in the UK. The football stadiums that Qatar has built for this year’s World Cup will have workspaces and conference rooms. Imagine taking up space in that stadium where you can work with your team as well as watch the occasional football game live!

And it is not just limited to workspaces. Even living spaces will see many radical changes. A Seattle couple was recently interviewed where they said that they left their home and their jobs behind to live permanently on cruise ships! The couple, who are in their 50s, have hopped on and off different cruise ships to travel the world, including a 51-day trip from Seattle to Sydney. While the couple has set aside enough money to spend up to $135 per day, it often works out to be much less than that. Currently, this year, they have secured 186 cruise days with an average all-in cost of $89/day for both, which works out to $32,485 a year. This includes room, food, entertainment, transportation, gratuity, port fees, and taxes. As frequent cruise travelers, taking advantage of loyalty programs has also helped them secure major discounts on trips. As living spaces become less affordable, we may start seeing regular working-class people living permanently in cruise ships or resorts or stadiums or Airbnbs for weeks/months, mixing travel with work from an aisle in a supermarket or Starbucks! You read this first here. That indeed is the Future of Work and Living Space!