By Manas Mehrotra, Founder, 315Work Avenue
Do you often do only the bare minimum at your workplace and feel reluctant to take on additional work because it may not be compatible with your work profile or responsibilities? Are you not being accountable for the bigger outcome at work? Would you be feeling sluggish about moving forward in your career? Are you feeling out of place at the work place? If so, you are ‘quiet quitting’, a trend that is becoming dominant these days. You don’t live in a time when people seek overtime opportunities, but you live in a time where personal space and time are valued. If you’re experiencing quiet quitting, it’s the right time to step into the new age office or the coworking spaces that guarantees a change in your work life.
NO MORE ARCHAIC CONCEPTS OF OFFICE
Companies today are striving to make their workplace the ideal environment for employees to flourish. Age old concepts of hierarchies are now relegated to the past. The modern offices now have chatty colleagues, vibrant music, exciting experiences, diverse groups, open spaces and cutting-edge technology that aids more efficient and less stressful work. Modern workplaces are fluid and casual and champion ‘work-life balance’. With a blended workforce in place, modern offices in the form of coworking spaces are more responsive to workers needs especially in an age when quiet quitting has emerged as a movement in the work space. Traditional workspaces are not equipped to manage work-life balance needs that restore balance to the hectic life of today’s workforce. Flexible Workspaces are filling this gap and providing the right milieu for today’s generation of workers to thrive at work as well as life outside.
WHY FLEXIBILITY AND DIVERSITY MATTERS
Companies have the option of flexibility with coworking which has emerged as a key requirement for talent. A study has revealed that over 70% of Indian workers want flexible work options and millennials are looking at redefined working styles with compact work hours to prioritize health over work. Psychologically speaking, it is a great booster and will keep up the positive morale in employees. Many businesses have reworked strategies to embrace flexible workspaces as a means of retaining diverse talent and grow in the post-Covid world. Flexible spaces see diverse people from different backgrounds and industries, thus becoming a hub of social network. Such an eco-system enables employees to engage with new people who could be entrepreneurs, start-up professionals, freelancers etc and create a culture that keeps them motivated.
COWORKING SPACES A REMEDY FOR QUIET QUITTING
Quiet quitting can become a long-term practice, trigger avoidance and unhealthy behaviours to seek comfort over professional growth. There is also risk of the employee feeling stagnant with skills and lesser chances of sharpening or inculcating more skills when the focus is to do just that. Authoritative leadership, employee dissatisfaction at work, communication gaps within team, improper structure or hierarchy, lack of transparency, lack of accountability and lack of appreciation within the team are factors that weaken the morale of the employees. Coworking solutions act positively in such a context by helping to build bonds with a vast network of employees and improving the psychological well-being of employees.
The coworking industry is evolving the way people work and perceive work-life balance, and is the new phenomenon of urban life. Collaborative workspaces are tastefully designed to cater to the needs of employees that range from millennials to Gen Z. They also serve as platforms for collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and demographics. Besides a range of activities to choose from, members can take advantage of social opportunities to de-stress and pursue personal interests. With new age workforce preferring the new style of work and workspaces evolving to fit the needs, enterprises are focusing entirely on work-life balance. Coworking spaces are designed to ease the employee into a work setting that is comfortable yet motivating. Today’s workforce prefers to work for an organization that offers a healthy mix of professional and personal life. And organizations are busy engaging employees in terms of community initiatives. There’s a lot more to offer but the focus of offering psychological stability and balance will not go away anytime soon.
