The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us a lot of things, but one key takeaway would be how the old standard of working in a traditional office didn’t work for everyone. With the lack of flexibility and so many drawbacks and restrictions, it’s safe to say that the outdated model was pushing most employees to their breaking point.
So, with bringing so much uncertainty and worry into our lives, what can we expect to see in the future of serviced offices, following the pandemic? How do the constant changes in our workspace environments impact us?
What shifts have we seen take place?
We know that co-working spaces and serviced offices have been around a while, but they’re more in demand now than ever. With an estimated annual growth rate of 21.3 percent, flexible workspaces are becoming the more desirable norm in our society.
With more and more employers implementing flexible workspaces to facilitate their business operations, we are seeing major projections for the “future of work”, as Forbes nicknamed it.
What about remote work?
While the world has been subconsciously testing how well full-time remote work functions, Twitter and other major companies had already been employing remote work for quite some time. Since the pandemic, lots of companies have been switching their operations to a hybrid environment, where a mixture of both remote and physical work is employed, while some even moving completely remote.
Although it does work and shows that some people actually prefer it, others believe that remote work opens employees up to more distractions and thus reduces productivity. Remote work can seem great short term, but in the long term, without a proper set up or training, employees lose sight of the work-life balance and are opened up to a long list of new things to worry about.
On top of that, remote workers are worrying about their companies monitoring them, ensuring they’re doing their work. A survey of remote workers uncovered that 56% of workers felt “stress and anxiety” about being monitored by their employers, with 41% “constantly wondering if they were being watched”. With all these added pressures, employees are looking to reduce the online element of their work to alleviate stress.
What’s so good about serviced offices anyway?
Given that the nature of work will always be evolving, the world today belongs to the knowledge worker. You can currently work anywhere, anytime, without even stepping foot in the office. However, people still need and want spaces to mingle and collaborate in teamwork activities. As elaborated on by the Fast Company, we still need offices.
Serviced offices are fully furnished offices that provide you with everything you need to boost your productivity and successfully run a business. With access to several collaborative spaces and common areas, you are able to get your daily dose of socialization while still staying on top of your work.
There is a diverse range of serviced offices across Dubai in leading districts such as JLT and Business Bay. While serviced offices are specifically designed to enhance people’s work, the workplace of the future is not for every company. Therefore, organizations should take the necessary steps in assessing their operations and culture to best determine the right path to take.
Having the right collaborative environment means that employees will be committed and hence clients will benefit from that experience. Not only does going digital requires less paper and personal space, giving up work from home for a more collaborative and public location will lead to further enhancements in company culture and employee productivity.
All in all, what does the future hold for serviced offices?
Following the closure of old offices, we are witnessing a surge in game rooms, cafes, and many more. It’s no longer one size fits all; some employees will work from home, and others can choose from a diverse variety, such as serviced offices and coworking spaces.
However, a home office just doesn’t have the same experience as working in a collaborative environment. An environment that we, as the human species, need to survive. Social interaction is essential to every aspect of our health, and to enhance our work and properly excel in our careers, we need to have the social interaction that serviced offices provide us with.
We still need a space that acts as a hub for creativity, community, and culture and so, it’s beyond a shadow of a doubt that we’ll be seeing a lot more serviced offices in the future.