Future of work: privacy, peace and quiet

Newsletter 09

The Baltics/Nordics-Asia Business Bulletin (BNABB) continues its deep-dive into the world of Future of Work, this time looking at the challenges and changes we are seeing and can expect in the co-working space or corporate office environment (also in the wake of Covid-19).

Regardless of Covid-19, if being a freelance contributor, or a representative for products and services like myself, you (like so many others; about a third of the global workforce work remote either always or very often) may already be subscribing to a flexible work style. For many though, the practice of working from home was forced upon them in year 2020 – because of why we all know And this often happened when our partners and oftentimes children were unintentionally also at home – generating far from perfect conditions to appreciate the work from home alternative.

Personally I had already learned to appreciate the benefits of this kind of freedom, while still having enough discipline to manage tasks and get things done also in a home working environment. It depends of course on whether one’s home can offer a setting with the peace and quiet needed to concentrate rather than being distracted and thus less engaged. I have also worked in a, albeit smaller, condominium-owned co-working space (experiencing its pros and cons when some work while some other don’t), offering air conditioning, a gym and a pool for good work-life integration and eliminating the hassle of commuting daily in one of Asia’s worst cities when it comes to traffic. 

Then again one can also miss teamwork, beyond just having team meetings online, but such a need of course depends entirely on what one is occupied with.

Also, in today's remote work world, where location usually doesn't matter location can still matter. If one is doing sales work and needs to have lots of physical appointments downtown it is certainly very beneficial to us a centrally positioned co-working space as one’s central point for days that entail meeting clients. But there is still a need to have access to privacy to conduct sales calls, or have client meetings. Then, an open floor plan, with the constant chatter that comes with it, is far from ideal, and places that offer privacy become much sought after. Today, open plan and cubicle offices dominate the market, which have been proven to decrease face-to-face interactions by 70 percent and productivity by 66 percent.

Framery Acoustics

And this is where pioneering Framery Acoustics comes in handy, a Finnish provider that realised the problem with noise in open offices - a major obstacle to workplace happiness, constant disruptions from phone calls, ad hoc meetings and discussions. What Framery came up with as a successful solution were sound-isolated phone booths and meeting pods for offices.

That means soundproof social distancing; achieving two things in one go in this time of a pandemic.

"Framery is a global market leader in office phone booths and meetings pods. Our pods are manufactured in Finland but we have delivered them to most of the world’s best known brands in more 75 countries across the world!" informs Mr Aleksanteri Palonen Director, APAC & Global Accounts at Framery Singapore.

Theirs is the world’s best selling pod, a silent place to work with superb acoustics and silent ventilation.

In the Asia Pacific the first Framery pods were sold already more than 5 years ago after which Framery has signed dealership agreements with many of the leading office furniture dealers in the region and sold a lot more pods.

On workplaces for the future Aleksanteri’s response is in line with what many think will be the dominating formula for the future, namely a combination of working from home with flexible offices.

“What we are seeing and hearing is that even though remote work is here to stay, offices are not going anywhere. It’s just that the way we use offices is going to change in the short-, medium-, and long term. While many tasks can be done remotely via video conferencing, people still want to go to an office for work that requires collaboration, and to socialize with their colleagues, but many of us also want to go to office for work that requires concentration. This kind of hybrid model, where you can choose when and where you work, seems to be the preferred model for many of us in the future.”

“As it is not 100% clear how we will work in 3-5 years from now, companies want to create very flexible workspaces that suit different kinds of work, with spaces that can adjust according to the future needs, whatever they might be. Framery pods then constitutes an excellent way to increase the flexibility of the office space, while also supporting different kinds of work - from concentration to collaboration.”

“And, video conferencing, it must be pointed out, has exploded and is here to stay. The problem with that is the many companies without enough space where people can have these calls in private without disturbing everyone around them. It is such a common sight nowadays that a few minutes before a conference call starts, people are running around the office, looking for empty meeting room or quiet space to have their call. Companies will definitely take this into consideration when thinking about future work places,” he adds. “Framery pods are probably the easiest solution to solve the problems with lack of suitable space for virtual meetings.”

And what is the unique selling point with Framery? How does it compare to building de facto meeting rooms and private spaces? “Flexibility and space efficiency are the key benefits when comparing Framery pods to traditional meeting rooms. In many of the world’s megalopolises it is cheaper to buy a Framery pod than building a traditional room, but customers should also take other factors into consideration: You can install and dismantle these pods as many times as you want. This means that pods can be moved easily, if you want to change the layout in your office or even to take them with you if you decide to move to a new location. Framery pods are also very space-efficient; occupying much less space compared to typical phone and meeting rooms. Office rent levels are unbelievably high in this region so you want to be sure that you don’t spend any extra on space that is not used efficiently,” responds the Finn.

“Corporate offices are the biggest customer segment here in APAC, but we have also sold our products to universities, schools & libraries. We are also discussing with many co-working spaces regarding cooperation and I am sure that in 2021 we will see a lot of new places spaces with Framery pods.”

Aleksanteri informs that there are multiple co-working spaces in the world using Framery pods. “Our co-working space customers are the ones at the upper end that want to provide a similar user experience to their customers as they would get in their own corporate offices. It’s not rare that people ask co-working spaces specifically to get Framery pods to the space, as they have been using them in previously in their corporate offices.”

In response to the 2020 work from home wave he informs that they have not yet developed any specific home pod, as people still prefer to spend their money on other things than pods.

“Employers are now starting to invest few hundred dollars for ergonomic office furniture for their employees, but not yet on work-from-home phone booths or meeting pods - therefore we have decided to keep our focus still in the office pods.

However, during the worldwide Covid-19-lockdowns during the spring we organized a ‘Work from Home’ campaign where anyone could send us a video and tell us why they would need a phone booth at home. And it was an unbelievable success; we received 650 applications from 33 countries! There were so many unbelievably funny stories and videos that we wish we could have awarded more winners.

Their products are available via dealers in almost all of the countries in the Asia-Pacific and with ‘Framerians’on site to support the fastest growing markets in Singapore, Japan and Australia.

Happy Holidays to everyone from the Baltics/Nordics-Asia Business Bulletin!

To subscribe to this newsletter just join the dedicated group: Baltics/Nordics-Asia Business Bulletin Group To promote your business or share relevant content via this newsletter, also connect with the author!