Few trends suggesting future of co-working & workplace design

Discussions on transitioning employees back to workplace has already gathered pace since the companies are discovering that “working from home and working remotely” are distinct.

Sending people to work from home was an obvious choice during this pandemic, whereas working remotely is a strategic choice.

Since the beginning of pandemic, organizations and businesses were focused on “how to quickly set up work from home infrastructure”. Now, in mid-pandemic; focus is turning to - how to get them back with focal question being - how many?

What would be the impact on co-working spaces and workplace design?

I collated some trends available online (2014-2019) and put them in perspective to get some insights into these questions. 

Impact on Co-working spaces:

65% of co-working spaces are occupied by small companies or “mom & pop” tenants. With current pandemic, we will witness a massive exodus in near term due to:

o  Cost savings

o  Business activity reduction

Reduction in co-workers (Black line on the graph) in the medium term will force existing co-working spaces to undergo re-alignment of interior spaces & locations to stay relevant to the “new normal”:

WeWork’s occupancy rate fell to roughly 64 percent at the start of April as reported by commercial observer.

Impact on remote working:

Fully remote working as mentioned earlier was 5.2% in 2019. The increase in remote working has been consistently averaging at 8% (Yellow line on graph). This is due to continuous workplace strategy pivoting on:

1.      Outcome based roles

2.      Cost benefits

3.      Better employee engagement

However, the current pandemic has proven that many roles which were seemingly impossible for remote functioning are in fact, functioning well. This has provided a huge learning curve to the organizations as the pandemic and related effects are unfolding.

With increased learning, organizations who were focusing on – How to get their workforce back? are now equally contemplating :

How many of them should be fully back, flexible or remote ?

There may be many assessment models already in play, however, the deciding parameter should be functional NOT financial with formal participation of the employees.

The other factor which will determine flexible or remote working would be TRUST. How much the managers trust their employees working remote? 

Impact on Workplace Design:

As an architect and being a Solution provider to buildings, I have been aware of, three fundamental attributes to space planning & design:

1.      Safety

2.      Security

3.      Convenience

Now, there would be a fourth parameter:

4.      Hygienic products and materials

And, determined on:

        I.           Space optimization

      II.           Product Automation

    III.           Space sterilization

“New” design philosophy must adopt to the balancing act between remote & office working ..

Broadly, offices may turn into gathering space for group activities including:

a.      Ideation

b.      Casual collisions

c.      Decisions

Whereas, all daily routine works, and individual tasks can happen remote. 

Impact on Communication tools:

As visible from the graph, there has been an accelerated growth even before the pandemic occurred. However, this will act as a catalyst to emerging technologies like VR, AR & MR focusing on collaboration and productivity and enhanced security.

Summary

With safety of employees at forefront there will be a shake-up in determining where and how to use the workplace but more importantly who should use it and when.

Growth in remote working will stay its course, though there will be a short-term spike till organizations develop their guidelines. The communication tools are already used widely and will not have any considerable spike (once the free uses stop). However, virtual collaboration, which is in its nascent stage, will get tremendous boost.

New additions in co-working spaces will stagnate and the focus will be on making existing portfolio relevant to suit the hygiene guidelines set by the local authorities as well as the corporate users and “flexible” leasing.

The workplaces will need to re-calibrate their interior spaces to suit the “on-demand” configurations and “less-touch” interfaces, giving potential rise to hygiene, automation and flexibility driven building products. 

*The views & analysis in this article expressed are solely in personal capacity. Comments & suggestions welcome.