Return to the CBD Office? Not Any Time Soon!

by Meredith Walshe

With the pandemic waning and many corporates issuing ‘return to the office’ directives, property owners’ hopes are high that ghostly CBDs will return to their pre-Covid vibrancy.

But don’t hold your breath. Worker expectations have changed dramatically since 2020 and the return to the rat-race commute is not the fait accompli that CBD landlords are expecting.

We’re seeing strong pushback against the commute in favour of ‘hybrid’ work life, where employees, contractors and entrepreneurs maintain their work flexibility - working from home when it suits them, travelling to the city just for meetings or team building, or working from city-fringe shared workspaces closer to home.

It's not even just about locations and geography, it's actually about the way people are working, the design of workspaces, and having options for people to work however they like.

It's a major negotiating point, probably more so than salary!

Now, almost every employment contract, or at least the majority of them, includes the option of being able to work flexibly. It's a major negotiating point, probably more so than salary now, because people don't want to go back to going back into the city every single day.

This is backed up by global trends. A recent Gallup survey in the US, reported that 55% of workers said: "I can do my job fully at home”. And 30% do not want to return to the corporate office at all.

And another survey by Microsoft pointed to the fact that during the Covid pandemic, people increasingly chose to ride the wave of their own personal productivity cycles, to do some work later at night, but choosing to take breaks at other times.

Some people are more productive if they get up early and get into it. And others prefer to start later and work later, working to the rhythm that suits them and for some, their families. Covid has just allowed everybody to reassess and really tune into those rhythms themselves.

However, despite remote working becoming a trend, the human element is still a key factor.

Working from home is great and there's lots of convenience around that, but it can be very insular, and it can get lonely. It's very easy to forget how great that banter is with people at work when you're making a cup of coffee or having your lunch, or sharing stories, just having a laugh. Those are all the things you get at The Settlement.

...it's the friendships - it's just bringing joy!

The magic that we’ve seen is not only the business networking opportunities, and seeing members forge really solid and successful business relationships, but it's the friendships - it's just bringing joy, I think.

So, get ready for the 'hybrid' work-life to become the new gold standard for employees and entrepreneurs.

The exciting thing for us is that we are seeing a lot of interest from larger corporate organizations, big private sector companies who are wanting to offer a flexible workspace as part of the mix for their people - to give them the freedom to work closer to home, but also be surrounded by other people and even their own team who live in the same area.

The commute is just one aspect and the time factor, but there is an amazing ecosystem that evolves out of these shared workspaces, where you have all industries and sectors and small to medium teams working all under the same roof.

It’s about being able to leave home a little bit later and get home earlier and enjoy life outside of work - which has from the very beginning been our ethos. We founded The Settlement when experienced it ourselves and wanted to enable that for as many people as possible.

I think everybody can acknowledge the fact that teams need to connect face to face and spend time together and such, but taking it all back into the CBD office five days a week? I think those days are gone.?

To learn more about The Settlement coworking, serviced office and hotdesk options, check out our website at: https://thesettlement.co.nz/