Back to Office - How Flex Workspaces Help the Transition

The Covid-19 pandemic has given us an all-new dimension to working - Officing. While people stopped going to physical offices, they found new ways to continue their work in ways that provided flexibility and comfort that were missing in the traditional office space. It could include a solo desk just for a couple of hours of work, a conference room within a coffee bar for meeting spillovers, or virtual workstations. This alternative officing is the 'new normal' post-pandemic. It is where the employers ensure that the employees get all the necessary resources to continue work and achieve the enterprise's objectives.Staying away from the office means being removed from a work-culture routine for too long. Such a situation has created several challenges for employees and employers to get back to office space, making it important to find alternative officing solutions that meet everyone halfway.

Challenges for Employees

When you cannot meet your colleagues in-person for extended periods, it may lead to a gap in your working process. The execution is not as seamless, and it becomes difficult to meet deliverables on time due to a lack of personal communication. The transition from home to office is not easy either, as the employees are coming back to office space in phases, so the lack of communication amongst colleagues persists. There is a lot of resistance among employees to return to the workspace. There are insecurities about whether they would feel welcome in the office space, meet their old friends, or get the same flexibility as they had to work remotely. These issues have resulted in employees' hesitation about returning back to office space. 

Challenges for Employers

The main concern of employers is how to attract their employees to come back to office space. It is challenging to maintain the office space without the full workforce. There might be too many desks with very few employees or the other way around, as employers are still struggling with new teams and trying to retain the old headcount. Since the employees' resistance to returning to the office is high, employers find it a waste to relinquish their physical office space. In such a scenario, it becomes essential for employers to provide flexible workspaces - a culture that would allow the employees time to get back to office space gradually.

Solution - Flexible Workspaces

Flexible workspaces with a hybrid work culture seem ideal for this global transition. Employers can establish guidelines for employees to work full-time, part-time, or intermittently from the office. The policies must ensure that the employees feel secure and welcome in the office space. The online hypermarket for workspaces, OfficingNow, is one such flexible workspace solutions provider. OfficingNow understands the ever-evolving needs of enterprises and designs tailor-made office space solutions for them accordingly. This includes customised workspace solutions for small and large enterprises that factors in need for social distancing and new working norms while easing the employers' and employees' transition back to the office. With OfficingNow, employers do not have to worry about work-desk allocations, physical office rent, IT support, or setting up meeting rooms, as they take care of all workspace-related issues and provide need-based solutions.

Conclusion

The flexibility of such workspaces allows employees and employers to work seamlessly. The employees have the liberty of choosing a hybrid working model. Similarly, employers would not overburden their workforce while maintaining a structure. Additionally, they can scale up their office space as and when the need arises. Such flexible workspace brings in both the practicality of the office and the comfort of working remotely, ensuring a work culture that fosters employee engagement and enhances productivity.