With the pandemic behind us, many employees are adjusting to the new normal. Companies that have transitioned to a remote environment are now opening their offices again and trying to figure out how they will operate. Some, like Airbnb, Salesforce, Meta and Google, have stated that they will allow people to stay remote if they choose, as employers believe it improves their chances of retention and employees have proven they can get the job done.
Others, such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Netflix, are pushing for all employees to return to the office five days a week, believing there is no substitute for collaboration and interactions in the office.
Other companies are trying to land in the middle. Adobe, Apple, and Citi use a hybrid approach where employees are typically expected to be in the office 2-3 days a week.
Several factors suggest that the winning strategy will not be to force an approach but to adapt to the needs and wants of the workforce. To succeed, a more agile approach to workplace design, culture, and operating models will be required. Many companies are choosing to decentralize, but centralize communication on one platform.
Gallup published a study of more than 8,000 remote-capable workers to find out what they prefer, what they see as the future, and what they plan to do if their company changes direction. 56% said their work can be done entirely remotely today, and only 20% said they believe being entirely in the office will continue to be a valid strategy, down from 60% in 2019.
Only 6% said they want to work 5 days a week in offices. That means 94% of employees surveyed want a more flexible strategy. For this, companies require an agile workplace strategy that means, it is not attached to traditional operating models or organizational structures, capable of adapting flexibly to meet the needs and preferences of its talent.
The new models include fully distributed organizations: Instead of trying to employ all tech workers in traditional markets (Silicon Valley, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc.), companies will establish hubs around the world. Top talent can be sourced and retained in lower-cost markets like Eastern Europe, India, or Southeast Asia, or even in small, non-traditional US cities like Idaho, a new tech hub. And the same goes for Argentina.
And for this there are dozens of connectivity options, and many others are appearing. “Cities are outgrowing and people are going to live in the suburbs, so satellite spaces are the future. I think people don’t want to commute to the city every day. But expensive work meetings are important face-to-face, exchange and collaborative work spaces and that is where satellite places like ours are a great solution for companies that may need decentralized spaces for part of their work team. I think that is what is coming in the corporate world and we want to be up to the task with our technology to provide those solutions”, explains Chris Colpaert, global CEO of i3 technologies passing through Argentina to present Volturno CorpWork.
“Our platform provides comprehensive solutions to customers in a meeting room, to project from any device, make videoconferences, and in a clean, orderly manner without cables in sight. With great features such as the wireless transmission software itself that allows us to Let’s have an interface, it doesn’t look like a Windows writer, but like an interactive screen in a meeting room”, explains Maximiliano Cervo. Product Manager for Argentina and Uruguay of i3-Technologies.
“Cooperative workspaces already existed, coworks exist, but Volturno is totally avant-garde by putting the right technology so that people can video-collaborate”, adds Carlos Murillo, Regional Manager of i3-Technologies. And there the user experience is the differential for the brand. “Today the employee has a voice, decision-making power, has options and proposes the ideal model. And it is true that not everyone has the best conditions in the office or at home, so this type of space is a solution,” he concludes.
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