To work remotely or not? An unanswered CEO debate
Is the trend of working from home actually over? Given the announcements from major employers (Apple, Walt Disney) or the emotional posts on LinkedIn , for example, one might almost assume so.
In reality, however, a more nuanced picture emerges: many job advertisements today mention and welcome home office as part of the work organization. And numerous DAX companies see mobile working and home office as a means of increasing productivity ( Frankfurter Rundschau ). The website statista.de states: "In a survey conducted in August 2022, only 29 percent of respondents stated that mandatory office attendance was a binding work policy in their company."
What was home office during the pandemic has now become a trend toward flexibility and agile work organization. Employees focus on office work at home and meet at the office for workshops and meetings.
For ONGO, this situation represents both an opportunity and a challenge.
Opportunity: During the pandemic, employees working from home realized that their current infrastructure was not quite sufficient. Working all day at the family table eventually became impossible. This created a need for agile, unobtrusive home office solutions. ONGO, as we know, has a lot to offer.
In companies, the trend toward agile working means that employees rarely need to use a fixed workstation anymore, but instead meet primarily for workshops, discussions, and meetings. The ONGO range perfectly meets this need as well.
Challenge: It's still unclear how these trends will develop in the medium term. At ONGO, we assume that agile working is essential for the younger generation, and that the trend will consolidate and become established. However, new forms of collaboration will emerge – for example, open spaces shared by different companies or more temporarily rented rooms for projects. The appropriate agile infrastructure must be in place for this, and new products will be needed.
Organizations and forms of work and collaboration are constantly evolving. This requires all of us: employers, employees, architects, and designers!