At SG Home Office, there are many employees who are working from home, indefinitely. Their companies have long embraced remote working well before COVID-19, this includes but not limited to companies with satellite offices for each region, start-ups with remote teams, or home-based businesses that are run by self-employed individuals. Cost-savings in office rental, access to talents from the gig economy, flexible work arrangements, and good work-life balance are some of the reasons why working from home have been equally valuable to both companies and their employees.
Over a period of time working from home, work cultures among employees are expected to change. For employees who are the millennials and generation Z, they may prefer to continue the practice well beyond COVID-19.
The reduced physical interactions at work have given rise to virtual interactions at the comfort of one's own home. While we can expect digital transformation among companies across the board, it is expected to face resistance as experienced in digitalisation efforts over the years.
Despite the ongoing digitalisation efforts to support companies in adopting productivity solutions, one of the main challenges among companies has been change management. While the importance of productivity is clear for companies, many of their employees could easily sidestep productivity solutions, thus reducing their overall effectiveness. This makes it even harder for companies to justify the cost of any digital transformation in terms of outcomes.
Notwithstanding the above-mentioned challenges, it is crucial for employees working from home to have access to shared digital resources beyond their companies which may not have them. Most importantly, the reduced physical interactions at work must be replaced by a digital interaction that transcends boundaries of the physical world, such as cultural, geographical, discipline-based, or even mental boundaries. In addition, it should also foster a community spirit once experienced in co-working spaces such as WeWork and JustCo, which have falling occupancy rates due to the pandemic and other factors.
Due to the above-mentioned reasons, we believe that "co-working anywhere" would bring the best out of both co-working spaces and working from home. Members of SG Home Office are given access to shared digital resources (including physical co-working spaces) so that they can work together to create shared value in the scope of business development and marketing among member companies. In addition, member companies have access to Community as a Service via local ground-up movements that are focused on building a diverse and inclusive community in Singapore, so that member companies have an opportunity to achieve a triple bottom line performance of People, Planet and Profit within an end-to-end supply chain.
Stay tuned for more information!