Months after the pandemic was brought under control, companies faced crucial decisions regarding work arrangements. The prevailing question now is whether these arrangements will persist and what the status is regarding the return to office spaces.
MTS conducted a study in its managed properties in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Cartagena, which have around 125,577 occupants from 1,347 companies, where they were asked the current modality they are implementing to attend the offices, and which are the days they attend.
In the analyzed properties, they currently have an average occupancy between 65% and 70%, at the beginning of 2022 this occupancy was at 55%, which indicates that the occupancy in 8 months has increased between 10% and 15% in these cities and there is a greater movement of income and visitors in the properties. According to the study, only 0.9% of the employees are still 100% in work at home mode and 99.1% in a hybrid mode, increasing by 0.4% compared to the statistics at the beginning of 2022. Of this percentage that is in hybrid mode, 45.5% of the employees attend 5 days a week, 22.6% of the employees attend 4.4 days a week, 16.4% attend 4.5 days and 15.5% attend 3.8 days. In general, the active population has an average of 4.6 days of attendance.
The hybrid model requires flexible, digital, and innovative workspaces that allow the employee to enhance their individual and community work, as well as strengthen the connection, creativity, and interpersonal relationships.
The fixed individual workstations have been transforming to creating a social distancing strategy when attending the office, requiring companies more collaborative spaces, making a redesign of the workstations, and thinking in a short term future, in which 60% of the area will be allocated to collaborative areas and 40% to workstations, contrary to the current design.
One of the new factors that have been introduced after the Pandemic in terms of design and comfort in offices is biophilia, which consists of incorporating plants and elements associated with nature, in order to create stimulating work environments that produce mental and physical well-being for employees.
The hybrid work model is here to stay, companies must find a way to redesign spaces and retain talent, keeping their employees in an environment that allows them to feel at ease both physically and mentally, their Wellness being the priority, generating greater productivity for the company.
Gustavo de la Torre Muñoz – Real Estate Director LATAM – MTS Consulting + Management
Ana María Mejía Ruiz – LATAM Consulting and Market Intelligence Manager MTS Consulting + Management
