DM Jul-Aug 2021
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Dm OPINION: FLEXIBLE WORKING<br />
Preparing for seismic change<br />
The flexible work future is here to stay, argues Herbert Lörch of M-Files - but how<br />
should organisations respond to the shift?<br />
The forced and immediate<br />
shift to remote working<br />
which happened almost<br />
overnight in March 2020 will<br />
be without doubt, one of the<br />
most significant and longlasting<br />
impacts of the Covid-<br />
19 pandemic.<br />
Any belief that this was to<br />
be a short-term necessity<br />
has over time, proven to be<br />
illusionary. Governments<br />
not just in the UK but<br />
across the world have<br />
responded to waves of the<br />
pandemic by opening, closing<br />
and reopening economies in<br />
repeated fashion. Even now with<br />
a large percentage of the UK<br />
population vaccinated, a large<br />
proportion of UK<br />
employees are still<br />
expected to<br />
work<br />
from home in what is now being<br />
termed a 'hybrid model'.<br />
Some of the best-known names in the<br />
UK have already announced plans for<br />
introducing more hybrid models of<br />
working. These include insurance giant<br />
Aviva, with 16,000 employees, and<br />
accountancy firms BDA and KPMG both<br />
reporting a move to more flexible,<br />
hybrid working methods. Investment<br />
firm JP Morgan and the recruiter<br />
Michael Page allowed workers back in<br />
the office in late March, but none have<br />
reopened at full capacity. In the case of<br />
WPP the BBC has reported that it has<br />
reopened its UK offices at 30% capacity,<br />
and that figure is expected to rise to<br />
50% as the summer progresses.<br />
As a result of this move to a new way<br />
of working, demand for office space is<br />
also declining and businesses are<br />
choosing to restructure the very way<br />
they work by focusing on their estates.<br />
Capita has closed 49 out of 294 of its<br />
offices since the start of the pandemic<br />
while one of the Big Four, Deloitte,<br />
has closed offices at Gatwick,<br />
Liverpool, Nottingham and<br />
Southampton.<br />
Permanent remote working is<br />
now being considered by both<br />
employers and employees<br />
who would not have even<br />
considered this back in<br />
2019. The World Economic<br />
Forum's latest Future of<br />
Jobs Report, published in<br />
October 2020, states that<br />
44 per cent of workers<br />
can conduct their work<br />
remotely, so this is a<br />
28<br />
@<strong>DM</strong>MagAndAwards<br />
<strong>Jul</strong>y/<strong>Aug</strong>ust <strong>2021</strong><br />
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