Five Trends We Can Expect to See in Hybrid Workspaces

Offices are, of course, always evolving. Even before the pandemic, digitization and changes in generational demands were already greatly altering the look of the corporate world.

What the pandemic did was “just” pour fuel on the evolution that was already underway, and accelerate that transformation five to 10 years from where it might have been otherwise.

Workers have started seeing different floor plans, functions, and technologies. And the biggest of all changes – the hybrid office space and work schedule.

Testing The Best Way For Comeback

This past year has served as an experiment for companies and coworking spaces such as Focus to test out the best and most effective ways to manage a remote workforce.

Adopting a hybrid model, where employees are only required to come into the office once a week on the same day as their team. 

The rest of the time, unless there is a meeting best done in person, they’ll have the flexibility to work from home.

Fewer Desks, More Social Spaces

We will have to say goodbye forever to the days of rigid social and physical structures that many companies believed were essential to a productive work environment. 

Instead, we are welcoming more adaptable designs, and communal areas meant to foster teamwork, creativity, and a sense of connection lost during the pandemic.

People will no longer be expected to spend long hours commuting and getting into city centers to work by themselves in rows or cubicles and be monitored in an old-fashioned management style invented more than 100 years ago. 

Instead, if you need an office space or coworking space to get the job done, you are able to purposefully choose Focus for specific reasons, such as:

• Collaboration,
• Meetings,
• Brainstorming sessions, or purely 
• Maintenance of work-life balance

Becoming More Virtual, But Cherishing Periodical Meetings

Do you miss those work-related side conversations that happen in the office?

It’s clear that most workers do want to see their colleagues in person periodically as well as retain work-from-home flexibility. 

More than two-thirds (67%) of US remote workers miss in-person meetings with their colleagues and feel disconnected. 

Half of them said this sense of disconnection is having a negative impact on how they view their job.

The more virtual we become, the more important it is that we communicate face to face to support that virtual existence. Coworking spaces are ideal for that.

Coworking Spaces To Introduce The Idea Of Hybrid Workspaces

Companies are now converting individual spaces into collaborative ones and socially pleasing environments where all kinds of workers can get together and feel accepted. 

After all, researchers suggest that coworking spaces improve collaboration opportunities outside formal meetings, and therefore are key to a successful business.

Take Focus as a perfect example; Here we provide employers, employees, freelancers, and/or entrepreneurs with areas designated for mentoring, learning, and training. 

By creating spaces that are less structured and more creative, we as representatives of the modern coworking community hope to reframe the office as more of a destination than an obligation.

Today’s Good Enough Isn’t Enough

Hybrid work is about team adaptation and learning how teams work to create the best experiences that reach everyone.

Nobody knows for sure what the hybrid office of 2022 will look like, but the gradual return over the coming months will no doubt shape its trajectory.

It’s going to come close, but I think it will take a bit of time for us to figure it out. You can always expect Focus members to be the first to review and refine all the hybrid work obstacles and get everyone’s feedback.

But we need to know – is this new, hybrid working environment what you’ve been expecting of your workplace?