The report pointed out that offices no longer have to accommodate all employees at the same time, and this means that companies can downsize their workspace. Not only does this result in leaner corporate real estate footprints, this gives businesses the opportunity to increase profit margins, it said, noting that office rent is typically one of a company’s biggest costs. The US$11,000 estimated savings IWG referred to was calculated based on conservative assumptions by Global Workplace Analytics. The research-based consulting firm had noted that the primary savings will come from increased productivity, lower real estate costs, reduced absenteeism and turnover and better disaster preparedness. Global Workplace Analytics also gave estimations for the amount employees may save by working at home half the time. It is between US$600 and US$6,000 a year. The savings are primarily due to reduced costs for travel, parking and food. They are net of additional energy costs and home food costs. In terms of time, an employee who works at home half the time saves the equivalent of 11 workdays per year in the time they would have otherwise spent commuting, it noted. Back on how employers can capitalise on the hybrid working trend, IWG said businesses expanding either domestically or internationally can provide employees with access to satellite workspaces that are not at the head office. This allows businesses to contract or expand directly in line with how many employees they have, rather than taking out long, rigid office leases that can end up being cripplingly expensive, it said. Besides, having a lower corporate real estate footprint also means lower utility bills, cleaning fees and office equipment costs – again contributing to reduced overheads, IWG added.
The 10 trends IWG listed in its white paper also include hyper flexibility, workforce dispersion, suburban revitalisation, and green dividends. Its observation of the trend of hyper flexibility stems from IWG’s survey last year, which found that almost half of all office workers would quit if asked to go back to the office 5 days a week. The survey also found that 72 per cent of all office workers said they would prefer the option of hybrid working to a 10 per cent pay rise, if offered the choice. “Pre-pandemic, some forward looking companies were beginning to embrace flexible working, but in 2022 and beyond, hyper flexibility will be an expectation. And if companies don’t allow it, people will look elsewhere for a job,” it said. Already, it pointed out, a study by flexible working consultancy firm Timewise had found that the proportion of job adverts offering flexible working has almost doubled to 26 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic. On the trend of green dividends, IWG said hybrid working lets businesses “easily achieve” substantial green dividends in areas such as sustainable cities and communities, as well as clean energy and climate action. It again cited Global Workplace Analytics, which had found that if all US residents who could and wanted to work from home started doing so for half the week, it would be the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking the entire New York State workforce off the road. Pointing out that even a modest reduction in business travel by air in favour of video conferences can make a significant difference, IWG said this is probably why executive jet-setting will need to be carefully considered in the decade ahead.
February 18, 2022
