January 31, 2022
Business leaders have undue confidence in the idea of hybrid working
Flexible working has overtaken salary as the top benefit to employees (59 percent), highlighting that flexibility and autonomy over the working day is now more important than financial reward for most workers. This is according to a new report from Jabra; the Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working 2021 Global Report carried out amongst 5,000 knowledge workers in five countries worldwide, including the UK. However, the report also suggests that many business leaders have a false sense of confidence in their ability to implement hybrid working.
Cities contribute 
While the debate about working from home versus working in the office continues, should the real conversation focus on the implications for a typical knowledge worker? ‘Knowledge work’ is a term that dates back over sixty years. It’s said to be first coined by Peter Drucker in his 1958 book The Landmarks of Tomorrow. The business guru went on to talk about knowledge workers in a later book, The Effective Executive, in 1966. He defined them as ‘high-level workers who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge acquired through formal training, to develop products and services’. 
Research from?
The events of the last 18 months have given us a once in a generation opportunity to reinvent work. Our generation can create a discontinuity between the assumptions of the past and the opportunities of the future. To capitalise on these opportunities though we have to dispense with the assumptions we hold about work and the places where work takes place, including many of the assumptions we hold about hybrid working. We have to re-examine the purpose of the office and what form it might conceivably take in the future before we can decide if it has any place in our plans. 
It was only towards the end of the development of IN Magazine that we became aware of something called COVID 19. By the time of the official launch in March of 2020, it had become clear that the world was facing a challenge that would lead to a reassessment of many aspects of our lives. We’re not out of the woods yet and there remain more questions than answers about what lies ahead. Yet organisations are looking forwards and I’ve been privileged in recent weeks to listen in on several conversations from occupiers about both their plans for the future and the necessity of flexibility in applying them, as they tread uncertainly in a new era and learn more about it as they go. 
A majority of Americans feel newly empowered in the new era of work, according to a new survey from Randstad USA. Nearly three-in-four (73 percent) respondents feel as though they can make changes to their work-life balance, and 79 percent reported gaining new clarity regarding their professional goals, higher than the global average of 72 percent. 
A new 
The UK’s workforce is undergoing rapid transformation as employees’ expectations and motivations radically change. The impact of Brexit, COVID-19 and long periods of furlough have created a tidal wave of resignations across every industry. Workers are re-thinking career paths, work conditions and long-term goals after a turbulent 18 months; with one study finding that 
January 17, 2022
Is your office worth the journey it takes to get to it?
by Despina Katsikakis • Comment, Flexible working, Property