The future of remote working. What is it?

What will offices and coworking spaces look like?

We are all aware that office life pre-COVID isn’t likely to become a way of working for many people across the globe, but what will offices look like in the next few months? With tech giants such as Twitter & Facebook already pushing remote working moving forward, others like Google are announcing they want people back at least 60% of the time in the office, it’s interesting to think about.

Remote working was already on the increase pre-COVID, but COVID has just accelerated the trend. The question what most people are now asking now people have realised remote working is possible is “how does the office add value?”. With this, offices are starting to change, to become more like hubs to meet up to spur innovation and connection, rather than somewhere people just report in to. According to Fortune, “post-pandemic offices will focus more singularly on creating and representing a company’s culture. The reasons for the teams to gather will get limited to ‘onboarding, training, meetings, team-building, and collaboration.”  

What does a hybrid working model look like?

With many companies being forced to allow working from home during the pandemic, 80% of employers plan to allow employees to work remotely at least once a week. Remote working has benefits for both employees and employers, such as employers saving on average £8,000 per employee per year if remote working was allowed at least 2.5 times per week. Employees have also reported saving with travelling less & buying lunch & drinks out. Also, for those environmentally conscious companies, if those with remote compatible jobs worked at home half the time over a year, 54 million tons of greenhouse gases & 650 million barrels of oil will be saved.

Moving forward, 72% of employees want a hybrid remote working / office model according to research by the Future Forum, With many never wanting to go back to the “old way” of working.

As mentioned above, the likes of Twitter, Facebook & Microsoft are predicted to enjoy increased productivity, by allowing the option of working fully remotely. This will also allow them to attract a more diverse workforce and not limited on location. It’s not only tech giants though, companies like PwC, Hitachi, Mastercard, MetroBank, and many more are adopting remote working as a new way forward. 

Perspectives on the future remote working

Paul Bennett, co-founder of Perchpeek predicted: “Not only will we see more employees seeking to work from anywhere, but we’ll also see more big corporates adapting their real estate footprint to accommodate more flexible remote work policies as they see the combination of cost savings and an improved culture that a successful hybrid model can produce.”

Joe Thornton, General Partner at Playfair Capital, explained his perspective as a VC: “Remote work undoubtedly represents the future of the modern workforce. The sooner companies adapt, the sooner they will reap the massive competitive advantage associated with a globally distributed workforce, including increased workforce productivity and satisfaction and a larger and more diverse pool of talent from which to recruit workers.”

So, why Reef?

Reef offers the best of both worlds. We aren’t here to replace your current office or your working from home routine. We are here to offer you and your employees a third workspace. Somewhere that isn’t the office, but allows you to socialise, collaborate and keep your business life outside the home, but also, somewhere that doesn’t allow your pet and/or child to steal your limelight on a Zoom call. 

Reach out to one of our team today to talk about how Reef can help your company and your employees get ready for the future of remote working.