Working from home can be challenging and has left people isolated and ineffective. New ways of working are emerging and they allow people to work from pleasant and safe environments where creativity and productivity is boosted. The concepts of work and the office will never be the same.
When we started Hotspot I knew the office concept will change and evolve, even without the “help” of the pandemics. But the unexpected reality of the generalized “work from home” situation accelerated a scenario where a large and pure functional office space could become useless.
The recipe of Hotspot was focused since the inception on a mix of ingredients that highlight the office as a statement and social center for companies. It is still about work, as it includes workplaces, meeting rooms, collaboration and services spaces. But then, we added the energy coming from the various events like conferences, product launches, art exhibitions, corporate events and even wine tastings and movie screenings. The relaxation and wellbeing
plays an important role in the success of the general concept as the idea of “office” shifts dramatically from everything we knew before. The “workhub” or the “flex-office”, as people tend to name the new face of “office”, includes also quiet areas where you can read or listen to music but also a Café to enjoy your specialty coffee or tea, fancy breakfast or a quick lunch made of organic, fresh and healthy ingredients.
I don’t think the future may be translated into an office space without taking care of our most precious resource: our health. The health of Hotspot is built around the ergonomics of its spaces, the high quality of the furniture, the good mood of its design and the efficiency and comfort of using the office only when and for how long it is needed. All this features have been awarded with the first WELL Health-Safety certification for a flexible office in Romania.
The key to flexibility is also being able to meet people’s needs by offering support in everything, besides strictly work related matters. Hotspot proves itself a scalable concept as well as fully adaptive to the particular needs of various companies. It may be enjoyed as a flex office center/headquarter like the one we have already established or as proximity small workhubs that serve as working spaces offering the same high quality standards already associated to our brand. These proximity offices, located in dense residential areas will offer their neighbours a pleasant work environment with no commuting time and plenty of features – meeting rooms, Café, professional printers, interactive whiteboards etc. Everything is designed to be a better alternative to working from home.
The future of offices is hybrid as studies show that companies expect approximately 40% of employees to utilize a remote working model in the future. 37% of companies expect that more than one quarter of employees will work in hybrid models that combine remote and onsite work. The benefits are obvious and one of the most important advantage consists in the cost reduction as real estate and resource usage. Most of the execution tasks are likely to be performed remotely (up to 78%) while the office remains essential for the strategic and talent management (76%), business development (69%) and creativity (65%).
But the office is no longer a place, but an experience. New business models like the Proximity Offices and the strong shift to Office Hospitality will completely change the office landscape in the following years. And I believe that the entire Real Estate Food Chain – from baks to investors, to developers and asset managers will have no choice but to adopt and adapt.
Hotspot comes as a strong example of how tomorrow’s office will look like. And we already have it ready for you, today.
Source: MisterWatch Magazine – The Magazine About Time Well Spent
By Constantin Baches
Editorial by Tudor Popp – Founder of HOTSPOT Workhub
