Where can you work in the future that’s good for you?
On this edition of The Business Brunch, we are joined by B4 members Mike Jennings of The Jennings Group, Jonathan Finnerty of Green Unit and Rowan Waller of Wallers Estate Agents as they discuss where we all work in the future that’s good for us.
Global accountants, PwC, recently announced that staff could ‘start when you like, leave when you like’. Nationwide is allowing 13,000 of its 18,000 employees to work from where they want. So what do our guests think?
Mike started the discussion by talking about how the role of the office is massively changing. Businesses have now realised that it is possible to run a team of people who are all working from home successfully and that productivity levels are just as good as they were before. The virtual world has developed so much over the past year and with platforms such as Zoom, we are able as businesses to function just as effectively and get the results we need to hit targets. Working from home has been a mixed experience for everyone and it’s certainly not everyone’s first choice of workplace, so the question on a lot of peoples’ minds now is, ‘will we have more flexibility on where we can work in the future?’
A recent external study shows that 70% of UK employees feel that flexible working makes a job more attractive to them and 30% would prefer flexible working to a pay rise. A lot of companies are now starting to listen to this statistic and are changing the way they work and allow for more flexible hours with the belief that if they do this employees will be happier and still produce high-quality work. Rowan spoke about how he feels having flexibility with working hours is key and has greatly helped his employees at Wallers Estate Agents.
Furthermore, it was also discussed that the working week will look very different to what it was before and that people will have more of a choice about where they work and how long they work for. Jonathan mentioned that it might mean that for two days a week they’re in the office and the other days they’re at home, the choice is up to the employee. Jonathan even said that people are now looking to move further afield as being close to the office isn’t essential anymore, everything (within reason) can be performed online.
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