With working from home now widely adopted, and smart businesses considering how to enable a "hybrid-office", a shift is in the wind to enable commercial space sharing.
WORKING FROM HOME - IS THIS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE?
We’re all a bit tired of being told about “The top 10 productivity hacks while working from home", (wow, I never knew I could just switch off my smartphone…). However, after effectively being forced to work at home during lock downs this has now become a hot topic.
I’ve been in a lot of discussions recently with business owners who are seriously considering making a longer term switch to "hybrid-working", where employees split a working week between time at home and time in the office. What lock down showed us was that productivity amongst workers largely remained unaffected - in some cases it increased! This was mostly due to less time commuting and people being generally happier. As an example, working from home now made employees/parents that live close to the local park able to shoot down and play with their kids over lunch.
SHARING IS CARING
Creating a sharing culture is desirable in business. When people are willing to share with each other, whether it be ideas, institutional knowledge or simply time, business outcomes are generally better and faster, which translates to better customer experiences and ultimately business success. Depending on the business though, this mindset can stagnate over time, especially where employees are long established and potentially looking to protect their position. For many of our customers, it is often the senior / management layer who have "ownership" of an onsite car park as part of their package. Culture is generally set by actions and behaviors at this level of the business. Progressive business owners are increasingly realising that having elitist space such as offices and car parks that go unused when they are not there, is not only wasteful but can also be a small signal to the team that you are not really thinking about the small things that might make a difference to them. One of the industries we help are large and innovative law firms, where the ultimate in status is the partners office. These companies are now taking initiative and challenging established norms by sharing their offices with junior staff, as reported here. Equally, smaller & dynamic firms like Sharp Tudhope Lawyers based here in NZ, have decided to share their onsite car parks with all of their staff. Parking had long been an issue for staff, with off-street parking costing in the hundreds for staff each month. If people didn't want to pay that, they would often try to play "chase the parking warden" leaving the office every couple of hours to move the car, hopefully on time, but sometimes finding the inevitable expensive parking ticket.
THE PERFECT STORM
With increased acceptance of remote working being a viable option coupled with a new found willingness to share space, businesses are now reassessing their workspace, and in some cases reducing their commercial building requirements by at least 20% - in a lot of cases more. That equals significantly reduced operating costs, plus happier, more productive staff... sounds good to me!
If you made an "owner" of a park able to share it - would they?
In our experience, there can sometimes be initial resistance to allowing others to use an "owned" space, as it is seen as a right earned by experience or seniority. However, once the ball is rolling, it really does create a good feeling within the team, and a sense that the owners, managers or partners do care about them. The key to adoption is having a tool that is simple to use, so that it becomes part of your daily and weekly habits, even for "lo-tech" users.
Flex Parking is a low-cost solution that can help you get started on your journey to becoming the "hybrid-office" of the future. So get in touch for more information or click sign up in the menu for a free trial.
