The traditional office is dying out in Asia
The traditional office is dying out in Asia
Flexible working environments are becoming more desirable than ever
The death knell of the traditional office has never been louder.
As a new, tech-savvy generation enters the workforce, and sophisticated technologies make the omnipresence of workers possible, the need for fixed office space has become less and less urgent in Asia.
Seven out of 10 head-hunters use workplace flexibility as a tool for recruitment and retention, according to WorkplaceTrends.com. Also, in a survey by Real Street Tech, three quarters of respondents expressed interest in technology that enables them to work from virtually any location.
Moreover, the millennial generation will account for 50 percent of the global workforce by 2020, a number that will grow to 75 percent by the following decade.
As of June, flexible workspace operators have committed more than 270,000 square feet in office space to Hong Kong, according to Mingtiandi. This figure is expected to cross 475,000 sq ft by the end of the year.
Asia is coming in late to the flexible working revolution, however. Shared-workspace provider WeWork, which launched its first space in Shanghai this month, became the biggest office tenant in its home city of New York in 2015. Later this year, it will be opening a 90,000-square-foot space in Hong Kong.
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In this vacuum, home-grown flexible workspace operators have risen. JustCo and Campfire, based in Singapore and Hong Kong, have given Asian freelancers and start-ups a taste of the authentic co-working life.
A flexible working space will not entirely appease today’s ubiquitous worker though. Apparently, even the open-office setup, hailed only a few decades ago for encouraging collaboration, has suffered some backlash.
A Cornell University study found that workers exposed to open-office noise for three hours heightened their levels of the stress hormone epinephrine. Also, in a Danish study of more than 2,400 employees, those who work in fully open offices were found to have taken an average of 62 percent more sick leaves than those in single offices.
Fortunately, Jones Lang LaSalle has noted the emergence of such office design elements as personal work booths, activity-based work areas, and differently sized meeting rooms. Catering to workers who crave silence and solitude, and assisting team-play and collaboration in others, these design elements prove that one size does not have to fit all when it comes to office layouts.
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Source: Property Report