Hybrid Work Gives Rise To A New Type Of HQ: The ‘Hubquarters’

Many companies shifted away from the traditional headquarters-style workplace model during the pandemic, in which the majority of employees clustered in a single location. For some organizations, the move to a more dispersed form of working has become permanent. 

An alternative model that took the place of the traditional HQ is hub-and-spoke, in which companies enable staff to work from regional workspaces close to home. Another common approach is a hybrid work model, where staff split their working week between their home and a regional or central office. 

And of course, many firms have opted to keep remote work for good, giving staff free rein to work from home or from anywhere. 

One common thread is that remote and hybrid workers are often invited to collaborate in-person in designated hubs. 

This has given rise to a new kind of flexible workplace: the ‘hubquarters’. 

The hubquarters could be a scaled-down head office, which is kept as a centralized meeting place. It could also be a network of smaller locations for collaboration, or for independent work, if the home environment isn’t productive enough. 

These hubs can be any type of office but coworking spaces are particularly well suited, given their flexible nature, variety of on-site meeting rooms, and the ability to re-size private space quickly. 

Some larger companies are opening their own hubquarters. One example is Amazon, which has opened offices in 17 U.S. cities with plans to open six more, while Fujitsu intends to reduce its office footprint by 50 percent while giving employees the option to work from home, a hub or satellite offices closer to where they live.