In the last two decades, technological breakthroughs and societal trends have reflected on and transformed the workplace. From the dominance of the urban population to rural dwellers in 2009 to the launch of a fully automated, robot-powered hotel in 2022, it’s becoming clear that humans have to build innovation to thrive rather than rely on natural resources and the environment.

In 2020, we’ve learned that nature can introduce major challenges and disrupt workflows we believed were well in place, such as the traditional model of office work. A great example of this is how the spread of COVID-19 accelerated the shift to all-remote work.

Where, before the pandemic, only 1 in 5 Americans experienced full remote work, in spring 2020, 71% of surveyed workers were doing their jobs from home. Most are happy with the new working style — 92% of employees expect to keep working from home after the pandemic. 

Among the benefits available to the remote workforce are commute-associated time gains (extra 40 minutes daily) and significant cost savings (US$2,500 – US$4,000/year) related to housing and transportation. 

Is there room for offices in the post-pandemic world?

From the operational standpoint, employers benefit from the all-remote transition — on average, they save US$11,000 per year in rent, utilities, and other expenses.

However, executives are worried about the strength of their organisations and the unity of their remote teams. In fact, most employers believe that teams should work at the office at least 3 days a week to ensure a strong corporate culture.

Also read: oVice, a virtual office platform, uses innovative technology to redefine remote work

While acknowledging the added productivity and cost-efficiency of remote work, many employees also admit to its shortcomings. 35% of surveyed remote workers struggled to set up efficient collaboration workflows and loneliness, 29% had a hard time staying motivated, and 24% couldn’t make the most out of networking opportunities. 

Fresh hires felt the need for an office more pressingly than experienced employees. They want to spend as much time at the office as possible, working remotely at most 1 day per week. In their opinion, the office environment improves productivity and creates a comfortable environment for catching up with experienced colleagues. 

Hybrid work: connecting remote and office-based work

Instead of making remote and office work an either-or problem, executives are looking for ways to keep the best of both worlds by transitioning to hybrid workplaces. By enabling employees to work both from home and at the office, team leaders improve the autonomy, satisfaction, and work-life balance of their peers. 

In fact, hybrid work has become a standard for high-growth companies: 63% of such workplaces have adopted the model. 

It’s worth pointing out that the hybrid work model offers its unique challenges: operational strain (maintaining offices that don’t reach full capacity), a disconnect between the office team and the remote team, and others. Thus, in order to be sustainable, the hybrid work model should offer a common ground for employees inside and outside the office space. 

Virtual offices: a sustainable approach to hybrid workplaces

As is the case for many challenges of this century, technology is a helpful tool for solving the challenges of remote workplaces. Since the start of the pandemic, virtual office platforms have become a new trend. 

These spaces follow the physical laws of an office (you can move around, walk up to someone’s desk and start a conversation) but are more comfortable, accessible, and cheaper to maintain.

Also read: Breaking barriers and bias: How this VC empowers women to take the lead

Here’s how virtual offices revolutionise hybrid work: 

From an employee’s standpoint:

• Provide a playground for interacting with co-workers and building meaningful relationships
• Improve productivity by eliminating the need to schedule calls and use multiple communication tools
• Facilitate onboarding: new hires can get answers to on-the-fly questions and complete their training faster. 
• Promote work-life balance. Virtual offices encourage teammates to work only when they are logged into a workplace. 
• Offer networking opportunities: at a virtual office, it’s easy to get to know the entire team and connect with colleagues from different departments. 

From an employer’s standpoint:

• Operating cost-cutting: virtual offices are more affordable compared to physical spaces. 
• No location restrictions in hiring, full access to global talent, and the ability to build diverse, inclusive teams. 
• Ability to foster team building and corporate culture: virtual offices are customisable so they can be designed to reflect the company’s mission, vision, and values. 
• Constant availability: unlike Slack, email, or messengers, a virtual office helps team managers and founders get instant feedback from employees, eliminating bottlenecks and improving workplace productivity. 

oVice is connecting global teams in a virtual office

oVice is one of the leading virtual office platforms, used by over 2,000 companies worldwide and connecting over 45,000 people across global teams. The space is used by WeWork, AstraZeneca, Yamaha, Panasonic, and other large-scale teams.

oVice helps remote teams stay productive and connected through the mix of innovative performance-oriented technology and easy-to-use features. It connects employees through: 

• Spatial audio: all voice-based interactions have a range and are heard only by teammates inside that range. 
• Full customisation: organisations can edit and re-design office layouts to meet their needs and reflect their vision. 
• High-quality audio calls and seamless video connection. 
• Multiple screen sharing, one-click broadcasting, and shareable links.

Also read: Bridging the gap between insurance accessibility and the gig economy

oVice offers first-time users a 14-day free trial, allowing teams to fully experience the benefits of the platform and make sure it meets their needs. 

The product’s internal team also uses oVice to build and promote the product. To take a look behind the curtain and see how the platform is made, discuss the technology behind it, and oVice use cases, take a look at the team’s tour space.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by oVice

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