Remote, Hybrid or back to the Office. What will the new normal be?

By Cas Weijenberg & Wim Nieuwenhuijse

Take out:

• 42% of European employees want a hybrid home/office solution
• Only 16% longing to return to a 5 days office routine
• Office real estate shifts from volume to quality meet-ups.

In a week, 2022 is a fact. And with Christmas at our doorstep, it’s good to overthink the routines that have drastically changed during the Pandemic. Nearly all of us have been acquainted with the remote & home work option. Some found it refreshing, skipping the commute and getting things done. Others wrestled with dividing the right amount of time between work and private life. Let alone the stranded household in the room, not capable of going to school or the other job.

Office not required?

Now that COVID looks like to stay in less or more virulent varieties, the question is: how do we cope with working in a dynamic way either from home or the office. Not that it is something that popped up during the pandemic. Already in 2013, Jason Fried, a software entrepreneur, wrote its bestselling book “Remote, Office not required”. It turned the efficiency paradigm around and advocated the virtual working community. Of course, software and SaaS company’s have an advantage over industrial companies, as they do not require physical presence to carry out their business.

Coffee Machine

The Pandemic has accelerated those ideas throughout every business sector. Still, the culture bonding rituals at the coffee machine or the Friday afternoon drinks do have an advantage. And seeing people In Real Life is a definite advantage in getting things done. Therefor, in business hubs, office rentals are shifting to more grade A spaces, at a lower square meter occupancy. Quality over volume seems a trend in real estate driven by the virus. Places to meet, rather than to linger in a cubicle.

Changing lifestyle habits

In a European survey from Okta, only 16% of the interviewed employees in EU countries across 10 industries longed to return to a five-day office life. 42% wanted a hybrid solution and 17% did not want to return to the office at all. That is quite a shift. And it gives food for thought when returning to the ‘new normal’; how do you want to run your business, adaptive to the current pandemic or endemic situation. It will force you to overthink what is best for your bottom line of your business. And where your employees can have the best added value. That was anyway a change that was needed along the lines of changing lifestyle habits. The Pandemic has accelerated that. According to Jason Fried, the leaders of tomorrow will be those who excel in orchestrating and motivating their hybrid workforce.

Interested in discussing how your business can be run more effective? Contact us at Morph.