As we look to what the future of work holds, it seems unlikely many firms will go back to ‘business as usual’ - and there are good reasons why.
A recent CNBC survey from the USA shows almost half of companies are opting for hybrid working as their primary model. In the UK, a report from think tank Centre for Cities found just 18% of employees who work in big cities had gone back to the office full time by the end of July – suggesting the notion that people were clamouring to return to the traditional 9-5, Monday-Friday routine, wasn’t 100% true.
Hybrid working – spending part of the week at the corporate office and the remainder working from home or a local flexible workspace – is the clear preference of a majority of office workers, as has been shown by numerous studies including research from McKinsey.
What was an evolution towards hybrid working has been turbo-charged by Covid-19, according to IWG Founder and CEO Mark Dixon: “The pandemic has certainly had a dramatic and permanent effect,” he explains, “but it’s merely accelerated a trend that’s been underway for several years.” After long periods of forced remote working, businesses are now awake to the advantages of a hybrid approach for people, profits and the planet.
Benefits for people
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of hybrid working is the improved work-life balance it offers employees. People who don’t go to the office everyday spend significantly less time commuting – an activity few enjoy.
Reclaiming that time enables individuals to integrate other tasks and activities into their day: spending time with family and friends, taking regular exercise, cooking healthier food and even engaging in professional development activities.
In its most flexible form, hybrid working empowers employees to build a weekly schedule around the different kinds of work they have to do. When there are tasks on the agenda that require deep concentration, opting to complete these from home or a local flexible workspace makes sense. Meanwhile, work that requires collaboration or face-to-face meetings can be scheduled for days when the employee is at the corporate HQ.
For business leaders, the key is that happier employees with improved wellbeing are more likely to stay with a firm for longer. This has a knock-on effect in terms of potential cost-savings: research from the Society for Human Resource Management suggests that every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs six to nine months’ pay.
What’s more, the hybrid approach opens up a new world for many firms when it comes to recruitment. No longer bound by limiting their search to specific locations, firms can begin looking beyond their usual talent pools to find true best-fit candidates for posts.
Benefits for the planet
The reduction in commuting that comes with hybrid working can have a significant impact on any firm’s environmental goals. “Companies of all sizes see addressing the need for their people to commute to work as the single greatest contribution they can make to reducing their carbon footprint,” says Dixon.
In the USA, transportation is the biggest single source of carbon emissions, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. In 2019, pre-pandemic, the average one-way commute in the USA increased to a new high of 27.6 minutes – meaning that the average American worker spent 55 minutes a day commuting, according to the US Census Bureau. Other surveys have shown that 86% of journeys are made by car, equivalent to a carbon footprint of 3.2 tonnes of CO2 per person per year.
In Europe, public transport accounts for a much higher proportion of commutes – but the average commuter emissions level in the UK fell by 20% at the height of Covid-19 restrictions, according to environmental organisation Mobilityways. Ali Clabburn, the organisation’s CEO, says: “Our commuting habits have barely changed in 30 years. We know that there is vast latent potential for people to travel more sustainably when they need to get to their workplace.” Under a hybrid model, where employees are able to work from local flexible workspaces as well as from home, much travel is likely to be possible on foot or by bike in accordance with the concept of the 15-Minute City.
Hybrid working also entails a more efficient use of office buildings, which are significant consumers of energy and also require huge amounts of energy to construct.
Better for profit
Pre-pandemic, many companies were sceptical about whether employees could work effectively outside the office. According to CIPD research, 65% of employers either did not offer regular working from home at all or offered it to no more than 10% of their workforce. Lockdowns meant many employers had to allow remote working for the first time – and in the great majority of cases, this had no significant effect on productivity.
However, hybrid working’s positive impact on people’s physical, mental and emotional health can translate into improved organisational performance. According to Accenture, 63% of organisations with high-growth characteristics have enabled ‘productivity anywhere’ workforce models. Meanwhile, 69% of negative or no-growth companies are still focused on where people are going to physically work (favouring all onsite or remote working rather than enabling hybrid).
Hybrid working also offers significant savings on office space, providing a further boost for the bottom line. A study by EY shows that companies can save about $11,000 for each employee that works in a hybrid manner, while organisations including JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC have stated they will scale back square footage.
Meanwhile, firms such as NTT have inked deals with IWG to provide their global workforces with access to flexible workspaces. Such deals offer businesses the agility that many are searching for, post-pandemic: the option to scale up or down at short notice, without the need for commitment to a long-term lease.
Ultimately, Dixon says, post-pandemic changes in working culture are “irreversible and accelerating fast. Herding people to the office is looking increasingly obsolete, expensive and inconvenient.”
However, the years to come are bright for employees, employers and the environment alike, he insists. “The future of work is already with us,” Dixon says. “And it’s only going to improve.”
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