The world, as we know it, is changing and the effects are going to impact us for a long time to come, especially how we work. With organizations already implementing Work from Home and other remote working options, the global work culture has largely changed.

As the initial brouhaha of the migration of the work infrastructure subsided, people are realizing the benefits of remote working. Despite initial physical and emotional adjustments with the new work practice, both companies and employees are now in favour of telecommuting.

Could this be the future of the workspace? And if yes, then how can companies/professionals manage their workforce remotely?

For starters, WFH does have multiple advantages like convenience, cost benefits, and needless to say, a better work-life balance. Studies have shown that a home office radically cuts down an employee’s monthly costs, including travel, meals, and office wardrobe. Imagine saving that entire percentage of your income and also being able to work in a space you are most comfortable in!

By saving the travel time, one can utilize the same for work or personal needs. Also, as you spend more time at home, it lets you spend more time with your family and yourself, without compromising on valuable work hours. It enhances the work-life balance that every professional struggles to achieve today.

However, it is not just employees but also the companies that benefit from the reduced costs. If a company has more than half its workforce operating out of their homes, it can cut down on its establishment cost by transitioning into a distributed working model. With reduced overheads, it will boost organizational savings, which could be redirected to developmental initiatives.

Along with major benefits, WFH does bring with it the issue of proper infrastructure and support that one requires to work effectively and smoothly; power outage, internet issues, connectivity issues, and not to mention, the lack of a professional office environment are a few issues that could be of concern.

Ergo, with the help of expert infrastructure partners, companies can provide the right tech solutions, IT support, connectivity, physical infrastructure that will help their employees work better, smarter, and stay productive. Organizations can have a multi-pronged approach of working at home, near home, probably at a nearby coworking space, and a head office as a viable solution. This will allow seamless remote working enabled by tech support and a fully functional office setup.

It is time we accept the fact that even if work-life resumes soon, it will never be the same. And even when we start exploring the outdoors, we will see the evolution of entirely new work culture of ‘Distributed Working’ – WFH + WNH (Work Near Home) + Office.

This newer model retains the practice of working from home, and yet allows professionals to be in a well-designed work environment, supported by proper infrastructure. It’s imperative that organizations assess their employee and managerial wfh sentiment and suitability to gauge the organizational readiness as a whole for work from home effectiveness.

Our latest product offering awfis@home is designed to cater to these organizational needs. It assesses employee, manager and organizational readiness, provides customized solutions for physical and IT infrastructure along with an integrated tech platform for employee management.

The impact of this all-new work practice could also go a long way in building a work culture that respects and encourages every individual’s needs, promotes trust within the team, sets clear expectations, and ensures accountability, by emphasizing more on communication than ever before.

Post lockdown, the new and improved is what we need to prepare for, for professional success, business growth, but most importantly, for the health of the society at large.

Over the last few decades, remote working (includes working from home) has slowly gained acceptance as a productive way of working, with both the employer and employee benefiting from it.

Our guide to remote working shares the latest and truly relatable insights into minimising the challenges that come with this dynamic way of working. There are merits to remote working like less work stress or exhaustion, and drawbacks including social isolation and work-life balance, among others.

Amid these pros and cons, we’ve offered useful advice to take on the remote working approach with necessary project management tools to adapt to digital transformation in this time. We hope you find our guide useful in making life easier and work more manageable.

You can download it here:  Guide to Remote Working

The co-working concept is advancing on a rising trajectory, not just because of the significant economic benefits but for the perfect work-life balance, these emerging ecosystems bring.  As per The Economic Times, by 2020, 13+ million people in India will be working from co-sharing spaces, making India the second-largest market globally for flexible workspaces. Such strong growth progression is enabled by the changing demands of the workforce that aspires for workplaces which stimulate passion, fuel productivity and breed on creativity, and simultaneously promote individualist growth and an optimal work-life balance. This is the core ethos of Awfis; we believe in creating aesthetically designed spaces that enable a healthy, harmonious work and life relationship.

Here is how co-working spaces contribute towards work-life balance goal:

Promote Flexibility: Today, employees prefer flexible working hours and a schedule contrived to suit their preferences. In a co-sharing environment, flexibility is the foundation. These spaces are enabling employees to manage work per choice and maintain equilibrium. They can manage some late hours on a free day and ensure an easy schedule on a demanding day, etc.

Build a Community: The most real advantage of a co-working office is community working. These centres are designed such that they offer balanced privacy while allowing for harmonious social unwinding outside the working environment and conversations, which do not invariably veer towards work. Moreover, a shared space offers elevated work experience by promoting co-existence, collaboration and growth of one another.

Encourage Learning: A flexible working space discourages unhealthy competition and promotes learning. They embrace cooperation, providing an opportunistic window for employees to interact, brainstorm and grow beyond defined horizons. These spaces breed creativity, subdue stringent hierarchies and endorse cross-functional working. This healthy learning environment lays the foundations for better productivity and happier lives instead of detrimental competition.

Improve Motivation: A sharing ecosystem allows all hierarchies, including young talent, veterans, leaders, etc. to interact under one roof. More so, it enables healthy competition and innovation outside the organisation, which reflects on the overall motivation of employees, easing the brunt of hierarchy, monotony and isolation. As per a survey, 84% of respondents said they feel more encouraged and motivated since working in a co-sharing environment. Also, 83% of people reported that their sense of isolation was decreasing.

Enhance Positivity, Free Communication: Unlike the generality of offices that house single organisations and function as silos, co-working offices, on the contrary, are like a collaborative commune of large, small and individual players. Such conditions enhance positivity, promote symbiotic relationships, augment recognition, amplify communication, and allow new perspectives to penetrate. This positivity and social uplift impacts employee motivation and endorses favourable lives.

Decompress: The co-working system pushes boundaries, allowing people to see the world that exists beyond their defined spheres. Vibrancy and diversity create free thinkers, helping people ease in and decompress from the work pressure. Moreover, such offices frequently host engaging activities that provide some downtime for employees to rejuvenate.

Conclusion

“You will never feel truly satisfied with work until you are satisfied by life.” This is the mantra guiding the co-working notion. Awfis believes in creating exemplary designed, futuristic workspaces that promote balanced interactions, diversity and flourishing communities – to provide the desired work-life balance.