Or at least that’s what you might think if you’d just woken up from a coma or returned from an extended island getaway. No matter what your feelings are towards the state of the nation (or world), or whichever side of the great divides we find ourselves on, the one thing I think we can all agree on is that this little planet of ours has changed forever. And so has the way we work – including our office environments.

Gone are the days of 9 to 5, gone are the commutes, the business lunches, the coffee catchups, the photocopier moments, the afterwork drinks and the office romances. These wonderful yesteryear distractions have been replaced with an ‘always on’ expectation. Our new lives are dominated by Big Brother apps, fake backdrops, fake outfits, back-to-back virtual interactions, screen fatigue, decreased human connection and increased mental illness. How long is this sustainable for?  

This is actually the BIG question, not so much the sustainability part, as I’m sure we as humans would adapt (many, no doubt already have), but the ‘how long’ part. This is the squidgy bit that no one can actually put their pointy finger on, the ‘when will COVID19 end part’, the crystal ball, because when we can predict this, we can properly plan, plot, strategise and most importantly implement.  

The reality is that we could in fact be doing a lot of this preparation work now and in fact a lot of businesses are. This blog is intended to highlight some of the points we think are worth considering. 

1. Current Covid restrictions will continue for the next 6 to 8 months maybe with lockdowns easing sometime in Q2 2022.  
2. For the property sector the months after (probably more like 18 to 24) are going to be very challenging or interesting.  
3. Between now and the end of covid we will see a lot more occupiers cancelling leases and opting for Work from Anywhere (WFA) or Flex options.  
4. This behaviour will be driven by occupiers wanting to ‘keep their options open’ whist getting a better understanding of what will suit them in the future. 
5. ‘The suit them’ will be a combination of management oversite and employee satisfaction. 
6. Companies that don’t adopt an ‘employer of choice’ approach will lose talent to those that do.  
7. WFA policies will become the norm embracing a bouquet of places for the workforce to choose from. 
8. The agile worker will be spoilt for choice.  
9. As time moves on, users will not only be spoilt for choice but they will be spoilt with features and benefits designed to dazzle.  
10. This is ultimately good for them but they should be on the lookout for sneaky ‘bait and hook’ approach.  
11. ‘Buyer beware’! Users should look for solid operators with track records and transparency is key.  
12. Serviced and cowork businesses will increase dramatically in response to this rise in demand. 
13. Hungry landlords and desperate brokers will fuel this space creating competition. 
14. This will be great for the consumer but bad for the opportunistic operator. 
15. We will see more and more space becoming available and increased downward pressure on rentals.  
16. This is especially bad for the commercial property sector who have historically taken a long-term view on risk and reward which is in complete contrast to this new land of the quick and the dead dominated the agile worker. 
17. Already we have seen that the only activity in the market is small occupiers (sub 50m2) looking for short term deals (serviced or unserviced). 
18. The tenant is gold with those occupiers in a position to plan far into the future the biggest beneficiaries of the rush.  
19. There will be opportunities for landlords to embrace this change and stay relevant. How, they embrace this remains the question?  

This is an exciting time for the user/tenant/occupier you should embrace it! Get out there and engineer what YOU want. Now is the time to make the changes that will suit you. Be responsible but be selfish. Find that balance you’ve always wanted. 

To better understand what companies are planning, we’re asking readers to contribute to out ‘Work From Anywhere Survey’. We understand how important your time is so we’re offering a day pass in return for each completed survey (it shouldn’t take more than few minutes to complete).  

Take the Survey 

Written by Brad Porter, founder, futurist, landy owner, longboard rider and generally complicated guy. 

Check out the website or write to brad@connectspace.co.za