LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workspaces, and Unwired, a specialist in the future of work, today announced the launch of their global workplace report, VWork: Measuring the Benefits of Agility at Work. The report examines current thinking about the world of work and highlights how companies are responding to agile working. Through extensive research and surveys of top global executives, VWork has established a measure for companies to monetize agility that will impact their bottom lines.
“As the concept of virtuality gains ground, monetizing agility and creating a robust business case for changing the way we work will become essential,” said Bob Gaudreau, Executive Vice President, Regus. “The future of work will involve organizations moving toward a more flexible work model where employees will be allowed to buy their own office space.”
As part of the report, Regus and Unwired surveyed 600 executives from around the world to gauge their thoughts on the current state of the workplace. In an online survey, respondents were asked about topics such as virtual working, mobility, collaboration, and utilization of office space.
Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents from large organizations predicted a decrease in the need for office space as a result of future work styles, with only seven percent predicting an increase in space required. Over half of the respondents (51 percent) indicated that the office will become a place for occasional use.
“It will be critical for companies to find a new measure for the cost of ‘provisioning work’ that leaves behind the traditional approaches of rent and rates in a ‘per square foot’ fixed world,” said Philip Ross, Chief Executive Officer, Unwired. “As the utilization of an office today is typically only 45 percent, empty desks no longer make sense in a world where mobility and agility will become accepted by people as the most effective and sustainable way of working.”
As part of the report, Regus and Unwired have established a measure for monetizing agility at work. Corporations will be able to leverage this as they move away from the historic one-person-one-desk approach to work provision. In their study, Regus and Unwired have identified a series of value dividends that shape a vision of ‘provisioning work’ in a ‘buy your own’ world.
Additional highlights from the survey include the following:
‘New Ways of Working’
- 62.5 percent of large enterprises surveyed have already rolled out new ways of working.
- 59 percent of respondents said they no longer struggle to work effectively outside the workplace.
Going Local
- Only 12 percent of people would like to work from home.
- 64 percent of respondents believe the ideal commute to work is under 20 minutes and 25 percent want less than a 10 minute commute.
- Currently, 32 percent of respondents that work for large organizations spend 41 minutes to an hour commuting every day and 27 percent spend over an hour.
Bricks and Clicks
- 79 percent of respondents feel they have the right technology to be productive in their workplace and increasingly are being given technology enablers to be able to work from any location.
- More than half (51 percent) are enabled with everything they need, while 42 percent have a few tools but expressed that technology capabilities could be improved.
Generational
- 71 percent of those surveyed believe that younger workers, the millennials and the generation still at school, will be more accepting of virtual working and reject the traditional office.
About Unwired
Unwired is a specialist in the future of work. Through research, forecasting, publishing and events it predicts the way that patterns of work will change as a result of political, socioeconomic and technological trends.
Unwired was founded in 1996, and has published over 50 research reports, including Creative Places for the BBC, the New Millennials for Nokia and Rio Tinto and Workplace Sustainability.
Its events include the WorkTech conferences held in London, New York, Shanghai and Amsterdam.
For further information, please visit: www.unwired.eu.com.
About Regus
Regus is the world’s largest provider of flexible workspaces, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the world’s largest network of video communication studios. Regus enables people to work their way, whether it’s from home, on the road or from an office. Customers such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia join hundreds of thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to Regus, allowing them to focus on their core activities.
Over 800,000 customers a day benefit from Regus facilities spread across a global footprint of 1,100 locations in 500 cities and 88 countries, which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to. Regus was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1989, is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information please visit: www.regus.com
For more information and images please visit www.regus.presscentre.com
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