More businesses have discovered that remote work arrangements support growth, but the future of work will include both office-based and remote work, driven by the nature of tasks, suggested speakers during the workplace strategies panel of SEE Property Forum 2021, Property Forum's annual event in Bucharest.
Roxana Bencze, COO of Knight Frank Romania, who chaired the panel, mentioned some of the hybrid work arrangements that could be deployed after the pandemic.
If people want to go back to the office, ideally it would be a place that is easy to reach, according to Mirela Ciovica, Head of Leasing Romania at PPF Real Estate. This will include an attractive mix of amenities and low commute times.
Andrei Ivan, Projects Director at Skanska Commercial Development Europe, spoke about the human-centric approach in the office field. He explained that there is no solution that fits all in terms of flexibility for people that want to get back to the office so the projects have to be more inclusive.
Businesses are not impacted if people are not physically present in the office, said Angelica Pantilie, CEO of B+N Integrated Facility Services. She added that after two years, a couple of the company’s customers have discovered that business went well in a remote work arrangement.
Hybrid work is here to stay, suggested Cosmin-Victor Smighelschi, Associate, Office Agency at Crosspoint Real Estate. There will be questions on the pay structure and the specific days that will be spent outside the office. He said that big companies will have a top-down approach to deciding the work arrangements.
Silviu Stratulat, Managing Partner at Stratulat Albulescu, commented that hybrid work arrangements will become the norm, but negotiations will mostly be conducted in person going forward.
