According to research by recruitment firm Robert Walters, over one-third of business leaders are looking to adopt a “hub and spoke” model.
“The Future of Work in UK & Ireland” report reveals that this business model meets both the needs of employers and employees.
With many employees expected to continue working remotely after the pandemic, companies need to accommodate these changes and offer office spaces closer to employees’ homes.
Some workers have expressed the desire to return to the office for at least part of the week. With this model, employees would have the choice to work out of a main central office (the “hub”), or a dedicated spoke location.
The hub would continue serving as the face of a company’s brand and would be used for large team meetings, but the spokes would consist of smaller, more agile offices on the outskirts of cities.
The spoke offices would be modeled similarly to a coworking space, which means they will be fully outfitted and operate on short-term leases.
“With more and more companies becoming comfortable with their employees working from home, it will become the norm for a HQ to only have around 30% of employees working from there on a day-to-day basis,” said Sam Walters, director of Robert Walters London. “Spokes or regional offices will work in that they aim to address all of the employees concerns around flexibility, commute time, cost of travel, and work-life balance, whilst still allowing companies to train, motivate & monitor employees productivity on-site.”