Hybrid working isn’t going away, but
the return to the office is happening Already there are signs this is happening, and the workforce are generally supportive of it. In November, a YouGov survey found that the majority of employees (43%) desire a mixture of both office and home working, while more than a fifth (21%) would prefer not to work from home at all.
It is also interesting to note that demand for premium office space is booming in the Capital, which puts paid to any notion that the concept of the return to the office is a fallacy. According to Deloitte’s “Winter 2023 London Office Crane Survey”, the last six months has seen London witness the highest volume of new offices since it started recording figures in 2005, while refurbishment starts specifically have broken records for the second consecutive survey, with 34 schemes covering 3.3 million sq ft.
Also, research from global recruitment specialists Hays plc shows that a steady shift to the office is underway, albeit slowly. 43% of employees worked entirely from the office between August and September, compared to 36% during the same period in 2022. That's compared to fewer than two-fifths of employees who are working in a hybrid setup, and one-fifth working fully remotely.
The good news for employees that enjoy hybrid working is that it is not going away anytime soon. For employers, it appears that staff are willing to compromise and move with the times. The question, however, is what can companies do to entice staff back to the office without harming employee relations by mandating them to do so?
"In October, KPMG released its latest CEO Outlook survey, which found that 63% of business leaders in the UK believe the workforce will make a full return to the office by 2026.”
Build it and they will come –
88 Kingsway The needs of businesses and their employees are ever- evolving, and that means office space providers must not only move with the times, but also stay one step ahead of them. Since Canvas sourced its first building in Shoreditch, East London, our approach to office design has been to utilise our philosophy of ‘home-ification' in order to create bespoke spaces that make employees feel at home, even while they are at work. That means putting them in an environment where their comfort, productivity and enjoyment are prioritised.
The prevailing approach to office design has sometimes been to create more generic, sterile, cookie cutter ‘glass
www.tomorrowsfm.com
boxes’ that are reminiscent of fish bowls. While some of these offices may be incredibly high-end in terms of their finishings and materials, the majority will typically be impersonal and uninviting. Our belief is that a building and the offices within it should not only feel luxurious, but must also have character and a homely feel about them. When done right, the lines between home and work become blurred, creating an inviting locale that gets employees excited. We want to give them a reason to jump out of bed in the morning and commute to the office to join their work tribe, and become a part of the wider business community that inhabits our buildings. Home- ification achieves this by making the office an extension of an employee’s ideal home. This includes plants, soft furnishing solutions and warm lighting to create a more inviting atmosphere, as well as ‘nooks’ so colleagues can collaborate and share ideas, or simply relax.
Our latest acquisition, 88 Kingsway, will be the flagship of our ‘home-ification’ approach and we expect to open its doors to our first tenants from spring 2024. Once home to the British Electrical Federation, this 35,000 sq ft, ornate Victorian building located above Holborn Tube Station in London, is an architectural masterpiece, spanning seven different floors. It is in one of the Capital’s top locations, with highly accessible transport connections east to west and north to south via the Central Line and Piccadilly Lines respectively. Given the building’s appeal, heritage, and prominent location, we have retained many of its original external features, but have extensively refurbished its interior. The result will be a range of modern, eco-friendly, inspiring office spaces that feature authentic wooden floorings, and communal areas for people to meet, as well as an emphasis on natural light and air flow. A place where employees feel they belong and can collaborate with other like-minded people, but also relax and unwind. After all, if you don’t create a space where people can belong and be together, why should they leave home?
https://canvasoffices.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 47
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