When Will A Mass Return To The Office Be Possible?

With the streets of Central London eerily quiet as a result of the latest lockdown, it’s difficult to imagine life returning to normal, let along work. 

Will the hustle and bustle of office life resume later this year? Or will it become a distant memory? Even if the vaccine programme being rolled out enables the Government to lift lockdown restrictions in spring, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a complete return to normality. 

WFH vs the office

The decade between 2021 to 2020 witnessed a 400% increase in employees working from home at least once a week, according to data by GetApp. What’s more, Cushman & Wakefield and George Washington University predict that hybrid working – where employees split their time between home and the office – will double after the pandemic.

However, we expect there will always be a place for the office in work culture. 

Envoy is a digital visitor management system that’s changing how visitors sign-in at workplaces around the world. It recently partnered with Wakefield Research to ask 1,000 people in various work situations how they felt about returning to work. 

The results revealed that 94 percent of people wish to work in a dedicated workspace at least once a week following the restrictions. Furthermore, 46 percent of people cited five days per week as the “ideal” number of days in the office.

There is clearly still a strong appetite for office working and it’s easy to see why. Full-time working from home is taking its toll on relationships, work-life balance and mental health. Long-term WFH can also have a negative impact on innovation and creativity. 

Source: Envoy

Not a question of when, but HOW

So, do we need 20, 30 or 40 million people vaccinated before we feel comfortable going back to the office? The truth is, only time – and the advice of experts – will tell. However, one thing is for certain: from this day forward, businesses will be looking to mitigate risk at every turn. As such, flexible office arrangements are critical. 

The importance of flexible office agreements

A conventional office lease can last ten years or more. A flexible office allows businesses to rent a fully functioning office space for as little as one month. Conventional leases may have made sense when the average lifespan of a business was longer, but nowadays businesses adapt, pivot and disband at much shorter notice.   

Some company owners still assume that flexible offices are not designed for them; that they are only geared towards startups or freelancers. Fortunately, nowadays there is a flexible solution out there for everyone – even large international corporations.

What is a flexible office?

The term ‘flexible office’ is a broad one. It encapsulates the following: 

(1) coworking spaces – large shared office spaces where small companies and freelancers rent hot desks or dedicated desk spaces, with a focus on social events and networking; 

(2) serviced offices – business centres containing private offices / shared amenities, and; 

(3) managed offices – entire floors or buildings that provide large organisations with their own self-contained space, with cleaning, utilities, etc. managed by the operator. 

Crucially, and when the time comes, flexible offices will enable businesses to facilitate a phased return without paying for unnecessary space.

How? By only charging the occupier for the amount of desks or floor space they need at any given time. 

Flexible workspace case studies

Company A decided to exit its office lease in 2020. It instructed its 50-person team to work from home while they decided how to proceed. Then the second lockdown hit. The level of uncertainty made it impossible for the company to plan ahead. 

However, it knew that in order to keep growing and innovating, it needed a centralised hub of some form. So, it made the decision to keep an eye out for flexible workspaces to move into in Q2 or Q3 2021. In doing so, it was able to leverage one of the flexible office deals on the market at the moment. 

Company B, a tech startup, actually began trading in the middle of the pandemic. Due to the lockdown restrictions and its small global team being able to work remotely, it decided to operate a WFH policy. However, the company does intend on renting an office space (once it’s viable). The ability to facilitate collaboration and give employees a choice is important to them.

The company has signed up for a small serviced office to move into in April, pending further information on lockdown restrictions. With this particular operator, it is written into their lease that if the lockdown is extended, they can postpone their start date for up to three months. 

At the end of the day, every business is different and every flexible office operator is different. It’s important to shop around for the best deal and for a solution that will suit your company’s needs. There are dozens of office deals out there in London alone at the moment, designed to incentivise businesses to return to the office once it’s safe. 

If you’re unsure of what to do, need advice about your current office contract or are just curious about what’s out there, get in touch with the First Office Hub team on +44 20 3963 8284 or email team@firstofficehub.com.