Future of Work: Signals, Shifts and Strategic Bets

Whilst travel and hospitality are undoubtedly caught in the eye of the storm, when we look back in 12-36 months, which Industry will will face the greatest level of disruption as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic ? Has the predictable linear outlook for real estate changed forever? .. is increased autonomy in workplace choice here to stay ? Post your opinions and favour research / articles here.

Will rise of distributed working and advent of the 'globally distributed company’ correlate with / lead to broader adoption of flexible workforce arrangements (e.g. freelance, contract, outsourced etc.) ... i.e. an acceleration in the industrialisation of services ?

Interesting article in FT .. 'Stores still matter when it comes to online groceries' ... Stores still matter when it comes to online groceries | Financial Times (ft.com) Key Takeaways - Whilst online grocery spending has surged during pandemic, profiting from additional revenue is proving a challenge. "Bain estimates companies that use staff to fill online orders in a store and deliver them lose between 10 and 15 per cent on every order, depending on the delivery fees." The most cost-effective method to deliver online orders is to leverage "smaller, automated warehouses, often attached to a store". J Sainsbury, the UK’s second largest groce…

Interesting McKinsey article attached (How COVID-19 is redefining the next-normal operating model) highlighting four key observations on pandemic driven changes to the corporate operating model - 1. Purpose sets priorities (enables rapid change in focus from multiple competing priorities to most critical objectives) 2. A flattened cross-functional structure focused on outcomes (moving from traditional hierarchies to decentralising cross-functional teams organised around outcomes / specific tasks) 3. People are reallocated, reskilled, and reenergized (coupling new virtual training programs with new technology and tools to empower employees and make organi…

Interested to start a peer-to-peer conversation amongst the occupiers on different space-as-a-service models and ways to balance out risk / reward of a scalable, on-demand workspace service with traditional leasehold procurement. When is it better for organisations to own or access future workspace services ? Are efficiency benefits offered by cooperativism in the sharing economy model better aligned to start-ups and flex workspaces where exclusive possession offer little value add ? Are bespoke managed office solutions crafted with building owner a lower risk solution to traditional serviced office / co-working operators ? What are the most import…