According to a survey of London based CEO’s, the average days in the office has dropped from 4.2 to below 2.5 post-pandemic, with more than half (54%) of business leaders keen to operate a part-time office for the foreseeable future.
With more than a third of these influential leaders (37%) wanting their workforce to be in the office on the same days, it has left millions of offices and desks in the capital empty each week.
Space32, who conducted the research, are the only marketplace offering part-time hybrid offices. They found that the average number of people working in a London office was 41 and that these workers want 40% less time in the office than before the pandemic.
According to research and calculations by Space32, the 58% of London businesses whose employees are in the office between two to three days a week, are losing up to £190,000 a year by leaving their office space deserted.
Space32 believe that their ‘Hybrid Office’ model, the first in the UK, is the future of workplaces throughout the UK. It enables two or more hybrid-working businesses to share the same office space, but on different days of the week, allowing staff to come to the office on fixed days. The model was set up by seasoned entrepreneur and flexible-working champion, Jon Dweck, who came up with the idea during the global pandemic when he realised that the traditional five-day office week was gone for good.
Jon Dweck, CEO and founder of Space32, said, “The post-pandemic work from home policy has left millions of desks throughout London empty during the week and this underutilised space is not being viewed in the correct way by business leaders.
“Businesses throughout the capital are missing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds in this new era of flexible working and businesses are failing to see this as an opportunity to impact their bottom line.
“Not only this but the hybrid office solution has considerable environmental benefits and provides staff with consistent working patterns that everyone can build their lives around, while a full office enables leaders to continue to drive collaboration and culture.”
To help businesses take advantage of their vacant office space, Space32 has created the world’s first automated office marketplace. Those looking for a new office solution can use Space32’s ‘Intelligent Match’ process that will connect hybrid-working businesses to the workspace that’s right for them, saving firms hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
Dweck added, “This is not only a chance for business leaders to dramatically reduce costs, but also a chance for them to positively impact their employees’ lives. In this uncertain period, where the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact people across the country, business leaders can pass a proportion of these savings directly onto their employees.
“As an example, if the average sized London office team of 41 employees is in the office for the average amount of 2.5 days, they could save £153,750 each year by changing to the hybrid office model. Giving each employee a £2,000 pay rise from this additional income to help with the rising costs of energy prices and food would still leave more than £70,000 in savings for the business.”
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