Trends in the Flexible Office Landscape: 2024
By 2024, the flexible office market both internationally and in Australia will have changed. More and more furnished and non-furnished flexible offices will be built to reposition, reorganise and reinvent work. This will in turn create places of work that stimulate creativity, surprise and delight – the way businesses operate today, driven by technological change, shifts in work patterns and the global economic environment. Here’s what we can expect from 2024.
International Trends
Hybrid work models are commonplace, and employers adopt a ‘return to the office where it matters’ approach (pushing traditional working structures to evolve to cater for the changing needs and preferences of the workforce). This approach supports ‘flexible’ working and is a key driver of demand for more flexible office solutions that cater equally for remote workers and those who are physically at their desks. Companies reshape their premises to enable teams to collaborate and contribute more productively. They deploy new technologies such as cloud computing and virtual meeting platforms to enable teams to work together effectively, whether remotely or on site (Knight Frank) (Spacestor).
2. Sustainability and Health: Environmental sustainability is emerging as a major driver in the office. More and more businesses are building offices with sustainable materials, efficient environmental systems, and a focus on employee wellbeing through natural light, biophilic design and ergonomic furniture (Hushoffice.com) (Spacestor).
3. Technology Integration: Current use of AI technologies and IoT, especially in addition to the ‘smart office’ solutions, assists the offices in becoming more productive and effective in research, as well as comfortable and pleasant spaces for workers, by automatising the administrative details and operations, and, allowing more flexible arrangements of the working spaces (Knight Frank)(Spacestor)
4. Flexible lease terms: the need for flexible lease terms will also continue to grow and as a result, businesses are able to gain scaleable office space as their need arises. This also makes it an attractive option for start ups and small medium enterprises who have overheads to manage, and uncertainties in the market. (Hushoffice.com)
5. Expansion of Flexible Office Providers: As a response to the growing necessity for work space flexibility, global flexible office providers are expanding into emerging markets worldwide. Recent communication from the company WeWork, which aims to reach 100 locations by 2020, is focused on establishment of WeWork locations in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East, where a majority of future flexible office growth happens today (Knight Frank) (Hushoffice.com)
Australian Trends
1. )Suburban Flexible Workspaces: Increasingly we see flexible office spaces in Australia gravitating to the suburbs. As employees try to avoid long commutes, suburban parts of Sydney and Melbourne cities are emerging as the centres of the flexible work space providers (hushoffice.com)
2. Boutique Coworking Spaces. In addition to the larger boutique chains, within Australia’s urban centres you will also find an increasing number of smaller, boutique coworking spaces. These offer customised environments catered to niche markets such as startups in the tech-oriented and creative industries, offering an alternative to coworking chains that is community-focused (Hushoffice.com).
3. Flexible Lease Terms: Like the global trend, Australian companies are increasingly looking for shorter, more flexible terms on their leases. The flexibility allows them to scale up office space to match demand quickly in response to market moves (Hushoffice.com).
4. Government and Corporate partnerships: More and more flexible office providers are teaming up with government bodies or large corporations to build regional development and innovation hubs, often by offering flexible workspaces for different kinds of projects (Hushoffice.com).
5 Safety and Hygiene: Australia’s market-leading flex office providers are going the extra mile to ensure a safe working environment as we move beyond the pandemic. Implementing strict cleaning protocols, touchless technologies and health monitoring systems, their tenants can feel confident that they have taken every possible step to prevent any problems in the future (Hushoffice.com).
Conclusion
The flexible office of 2024 reflects an age of agility, innovation, sustainability and great emphasis on the wellbeing of people, a crucial body of research shows that these global and even local trends are changing how work gets done, and that flexible offices are well placed to respond with innovative, resilient solutions.
For further insights, consider exploring these articles:
1. Knight Frank – Predictions for Office and Workspace Trends in 2024
2. Compass Offices – 5 Trends Shaping the Flex Office Industry in 2024 and Beyond
3. Hushoffice – Office Trends 2024: Downsizing, Amenities, Flex Space
4. Facility Executive – Workplace Trends For Office Spaces In 2024
5. Spacestor – Top 8 Workplace Trends for 2024
