The nature of office work has undeniably been put to the test this year. From the sudden need to work from home and contain the impact of the pandemic on business operations and continuity, to designing re-entry strategies and rethinking the office space.
Indeed, the pandemic has had a profound impact on how and where companies undertake their office activities, and their resulting requirement for office real estate.
Many aspects to this dynamic are likely to play out in markets across the MENA region over the coming years, including the growth in demand for flexible offices and a reimagination of workplaces.
To this extent, we believe the post pandemic office landscape is likely to involve a combination of three different office environments: the central headquarters, decentralised office hubs or flexible spaces, and remote working.
Achieving the right balance between these three options will be a critical element of future workplace strategies, and will depend on the nature of the industry, mobility profiles of employees, and the job functions performed within the organization on a typical day.
JLL predicts that flexible space demand will continue to increase
Thus the nature of this hybrid model is likely to vary greatly between businesses and between cities, with no ‘one size fits all solution’ emerging.
Remote working emphasises the need for human connections
The pandemic has put remote working to an unprecedented and gigantic test. Based on a global survey of over 3,000 employees from diverse industries undertaken in June 2020, 53 percent of employees cited they expect to be working from home one – two days per week for the next two years, compared to 21 percent pre-Covid.
However, a considerable 54 percent say they missed socializing with colleagues. More than any other generation, employees under 35 lacked a comfortable working environment, and specified they missed an environment where they can focus, an ergonomic workstation, and the ability to work in different spaces.
Flexible office spaces: short term pain, long term gain
While the global pandemic has placed a temporary halt on the phenomenal growth in the demand for flexible office space over the past year, this impact is expected to be relatively short lived.
Our research predicts that flexible space demand will continue to increase, although in a different form than it took before the pandemic, with more emphasis on private space rather than a typical co-working layout.
One of the key attractions of flex space is that it represents something of a ‘middle ground’ between corporate HQ’s and remote working, and we believe that around 30 percent of all office space could be consumed on a flexible basis by 2030.
Workplaces in the new normal: Hub & Club
One potential response to the change in the nature of office work and the reimagination phase, is the ‘Hub & Club’ model. This involves businesses splitting their office activities between a number of satellite flexible offices located in suburban locations so employees may use these on demand (the hub) and a central corporate HQ (the club) used for socialisation, collaboration and innovation.
Flexible office formats provide an ideal model for the delivery of these multiple ‘Hubs’. Located out of towns and cities, these hubs will primarily ensure business continuity in the face of rapidly changing business conditions and will also offer flexibility to employees to work within close proximity of their residences and avoid long commutes.
This set-up can then leave central HQs to deliver the ‘Club’ model, through a truly re-imagined workplace that puts the experience of staff and clients at its core.
The future is likely to involve a greater mix of office environments across a wider range of real estate formats
In summary, office markets are continuing to evolve and respond to changes in the nature of office work globally and the same is certainly true in the Middle East.
The future is likely to involve a greater mix of office environments across a wider range of real estate formats in response to the increased demand for flexible offices and the growth in remote working.
As with any period of rapid change, this will create opportunities for those developers and investors who are most closely in tune with the changing requirements of office occupiers, with the introduction of the ‘hub and club’ concept being one such opportunity.
Thierry Delvaux is CEO of JLL – Middle East and Africa
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by Staff Writer
More of this topic
Hybrid workplace models and the emergence of the ‘Hub & Club’ model
The pandemic has had a profound impact on how and where companies undertake their office activities, says Thierry Delvaux
Thierry Delvaux, CEO of JLL MEA
The nature of office work has undeniably been put to the test this year. From the sudden need to work from home and contain the impact of the pandemic on business operations and continuity, to designing re-entry strategies and rethinking the office space.
Indeed, the pandemic has had a profound impact on how and where companies undertake their office activities, and their resulting requirement for office real estate.
Many aspects to this dynamic are likely to play out in markets across the MENA region over the coming years, including the growth in demand for flexible offices and a reimagination of workplaces.
To this extent, we believe the post pandemic office landscape is likely to involve a combination of three different office environments: the central headquarters, decentralised office hubs or flexible spaces, and remote working.
Achieving the right balance between these three options will be a critical element of future workplace strategies, and will depend on the nature of the industry, mobility profiles of employees, and the job functions performed within the organization on a typical day.
Thus the nature of this hybrid model is likely to vary greatly between businesses and between cities, with no ‘one size fits all solution’ emerging.
Remote working emphasises the need for human connections
The pandemic has put remote working to an unprecedented and gigantic test. Based on a global survey of over 3,000 employees from diverse industries undertaken in June 2020, 53 percent of employees cited they expect to be working from home one – two days per week for the next two years, compared to 21 percent pre-Covid.
However, a considerable 54 percent say they missed socializing with colleagues. More than any other generation, employees under 35 lacked a comfortable working environment, and specified they missed an environment where they can focus, an ergonomic workstation, and the ability to work in different spaces.
Flexible office spaces: short term pain, long term gain
While the global pandemic has placed a temporary halt on the phenomenal growth in the demand for flexible office space over the past year, this impact is expected to be relatively short lived.
Our research predicts that flexible space demand will continue to increase, although in a different form than it took before the pandemic, with more emphasis on private space rather than a typical co-working layout.
One of the key attractions of flex space is that it represents something of a ‘middle ground’ between corporate HQ’s and remote working, and we believe that around 30 percent of all office space could be consumed on a flexible basis by 2030.
Workplaces in the new normal: Hub & Club
One potential response to the change in the nature of office work and the reimagination phase, is the ‘Hub & Club’ model. This involves businesses splitting their office activities between a number of satellite flexible offices located in suburban locations so employees may use these on demand (the hub) and a central corporate HQ (the club) used for socialisation, collaboration and innovation.
Flexible office formats provide an ideal model for the delivery of these multiple ‘Hubs’. Located out of towns and cities, these hubs will primarily ensure business continuity in the face of rapidly changing business conditions and will also offer flexibility to employees to work within close proximity of their residences and avoid long commutes.
This set-up can then leave central HQs to deliver the ‘Club’ model, through a truly re-imagined workplace that puts the experience of staff and clients at its core.
In summary, office markets are continuing to evolve and respond to changes in the nature of office work globally and the same is certainly true in the Middle East.
The future is likely to involve a greater mix of office environments across a wider range of real estate formats in response to the increased demand for flexible offices and the growth in remote working.
As with any period of rapid change, this will create opportunities for those developers and investors who are most closely in tune with the changing requirements of office occupiers, with the introduction of the ‘hub and club’ concept being one such opportunity.
Thierry Delvaux is CEO of JLL – Middle East and Africa
Follow us on
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