What constitutes an “alternative” workplace? The term can cast a wide net of descriptors, but according to Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA), it translates to “the combination of non-traditional work practices and settings and locations that supplement or replace traditional offices.”
It could mean working from home or activity-based working (not having an assigned seat in the office) to increase productivity.
AWA recently released the study “Alternative Workplace Strategies Report,” which pulled together data from over 130 organizations across the world and 2.3 million employees. The purpose of the report was to “benchmark” workplace strategies and practices and monitor trends.
[Related: Hot Desking - A Flexible Co-working Space]
Is your building following suit? Below are a few highlights.
Workplace Styles
- Assigned Space: 48 percent
- Mobile Internal: 21 percent*
- Mobile External: 10 percent*
- Home-Based: 6 percent
- Not Tracked: 15 percent
*Mobile Internal: No assigned seating, able to roam office freely. Mobile External: Co-working spaces, working outside of the office.
5 Takeaways from the AWA Report
- About half of employees still have an assigned seat, but that’s only a five-percent decrease from data collected in 2009.
- Internal mobility has more than doubled since 2009 (from 9 percent to 21 percent).
- Increasing productivity and saving money are still the main drivers for implementing alternative workplace programs.
- Organizations are increasingly handing more control of alternative workplace programs over to real estate and facilities management. They gained 10 percent from data collected in 2013.
- Employee involvement in the planning and implementation of alternative workplace programs is decreasing, as the programs grow in size. But this report shows that when more people are involved, the more likely the program will be accepted.
“As an industry we need to improve our focus on better evaluating the business and employee benefits of these programs, concentrating on the core values these programs deliver and worrying less about what they look like.” – Chris Hood, research lead and director at AWA.
Read the full report here.
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