Despite the prevalence of hybrid work arrangements in Singapore, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) believed that offices wouldn’t become obsolete.
The reason is that Singaporeans are concerned about flexibility at work, not only that they must work in the office. Also, some workers in Singapore say they need to work in an office as there has a lot of equipment to support them to work.
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What is hybrid work?
Hybrid work is an approach that combines work at home and work in the office and takes into account the needs of the individual.
It provides sufficient flexibility in work, including customized flexible working hours, workplace, and workflow by employees themselves, and allows them to work in the public workspace in the office. Implementing hybrid work actually relieves office redundancy in Singapore.
Opinions to implement hybrid working in Singapore
Contrary to what some may believe, hybrid working doesn’t mean that office will become redundant.
C&W’s Head of Asia Pacific Tenant Rep Anshul Jain
Cushman & Wakefield (C&W)’s Head of Asia Pacific Tenant Rep Anshul Jain indicates that the office of the future needs more holistic technology in fostering improved networking and collaborative work, as well as boosting productivity.
Meanwhile, companies should use some systems or tools to optimize their offices to operate in a more efficient and sustainable way rather than abandon their offices.
Also, C&W points out that the future of workplace design must incorporate hospitality and collaborative and flexible office functions that thrive. So, Singapore companies are focusing more on improving their workplaces rather than abandoning rented offices.
C&W expects business leaders to continue increasing their demand for Class A office space in the Central Business District (CBD), making the rent rise by 5.4 percent for 2022.
As a result, the office vacancy rate will decline to 4.0% by 2022.
Why an office is important for employees?
A Milieu Insight’s recent survey in Singapore reveals that 78% of Singaporeans prefer a hybrid schedule as they are far less enthusiastic about going all in one environment. On the contrary, only 10% want to work remotely full-time.
Based on the survey, employees are motivated to go to the office to work together with their teams and colleagues, such as for collective work, brainstorming sessions, building connections, and other social rituals.
The reasons are working with colleagues makes them happier at work and more work efficient.
Thus, the survey recommended that to be truly successful with a hybrid work arrangement, companies ought to consider transforming their office to cater to what these places will actually be used for – for employees to innovate, collaborate and connect.
Moreover, PwC’s US Remote Work Survey shows just 13% of executives are prepared to let go of the office for good. Meanwhile, 87% of employees say the office is important for collaborating with team members and building relationships — their top-rated needs for the office.
What if an office implements hybrid work?
As mentioned above, organizations in Singapore are in demand of offices which leads to the rent becoming higher. If your office implements a hybrid work model, it can help you to save operation costs and even enhance your employee productivity.
Since only some of the people in a hybrid office work in the office, while others work from anywhere. Therefore, some office equipment, such as fixed desks, is not necessary for a hybrid office.
Managers can save the budget to buy fixed desks and reduce the number of fixed desks to increase co-working space. Moreover, the office resources are shared in a hybrid office, so some organizations prefer to be hybrid offices to prevent paying high rent or operation costs.
Example of a hybrid office in Singapore
For example, Redhill’s new office in Singapore is using hot desking. It allows workers to use any available desks immediately so that they can have flexible work locations and work flexibly.
And the co-working areas provide open-plan seating and versatile discussion spaces. The aim is to facilitate collaboration and cooperation, while meeting rooms and quiet cars will enable team discussions and focused work.
The result of this approach is Redhill has success to retain its talents and has a positive impact on increasing employees’ productivity at the same time.
What setup can support your hybrid office?
A hybrid office should use a functional office management system, which helps Singapore employees use office resources efficiently, such as rooms, desks, and office equipment, and support them to have remote work and virtual meetings with their colleagues in the office.
ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease. You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.
Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/sg/.