{"id":19864,"date":"2021-05-26T08:03:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T08:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/?p=19864"},"modified":"2021-06-15T18:20:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T18:20:43","slug":"podcast-what-does-hybrid-working-look-like-in-a-post-pandemic-world-tushar-agarwal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/podcast-what-does-hybrid-working-look-like-in-a-post-pandemic-world-tushar-agarwal\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast | What Does Hybrid Working Look Like In A Post Pandemic World? &#8211; Tushar Agarwal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you\u2019re running London\u2019s largest online marketplace for flexible office space, the COVID-19 work from home orders must feel like the world\u2019s largest curve ball. Hubble founder Tushar Agarwal joined us to explain just how you approach and handle a situation like this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But have those short-term challenges actually accelerated the trend for remote and hybrid working? Tushar explained why people are now demanding more flexibility, freedom and autonomy over where they work, but also provides the counter arguments for why 70% still want their company to provide an office of some sort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also discussed whether the government\u2019s \u2018Get Back To Work\u2019 messaging could be worded better, how to better prepare managers and leaders to deal with this new reality and measuring the return on your office space investments.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Watch the episode<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aOC82STP7XA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Listen to the episode<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/gethownow\/embed\/episodes\/What-Does-Hybrid-Working-Look-Like-In-A-Post-Pandemic-World---Tushar-Agarwal--Episode-7-e11hrd3\" width=\"400px\" height=\"102px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Running order<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">0:00 &gt; Introduction<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1:31 &gt; Reacting to the pandemic as an office space providing\/sourcing company.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8:06 &gt;How Tushar dealt with the uncertainty of the past year and pandemic as a founder.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11:36 &gt; The role of the office moving forward and how COVID accelerated current trends.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">16:38 &gt; The case for shared physical space.<br \/>\n<\/span>21:09 <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &gt; <\/span>Tushar\u2019s preferred approach to working.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">26:08 &gt; Is the \u2018Get Back To Work\u2019 messaging right?<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30:12 &gt; Better preparing managers and leaders to deal with this new reality.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">33.23 &gt; How companies can prepare their teams as they return to workplaces.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">36:34 &gt; Measuring the ROI on an office space.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">41:32 &gt; Quickfire questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Episode summary: five key takeaways on hybrid working for the future<\/h2>\n<h3>Did COVID actually accelerate the trends for flexible working?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tushar and his team never doubted or worried that the entire office market would disappear overnight &#8211; in fact, they believed that it would accelerate the trend of people searching for more options and autonomy in how and where they work. With a growing desire for not being locked into long-term commitments, we\u2019re seeing more and more demand for flexibility in real-estate today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interestingly, as Tushar prepared to speak with investors, he put together a thesis on the future of work and the office and actually found that it wasn\u2019t that different to what he\u2019d put together when the company began. It was all around more autonomy and optionality for the individual employee and for the employer to transform their fixed cost to a variable cost for real estate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tushar was bold in sharing his opinions early on and was the only office space CEO to declare that the office as we know it was dead, in the sense of it being somewhere you went 5 days per week from 9 to 5. That concept was already eroding and the pandemic really accelerated this trend. Every company will now want their blend of working from HQ, from home and coworking\/creative spaces and it\u2019s what a lot of employees have been crying out for over the past 10 years anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>The case for shared physical space, owner or leased by the business<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hubble surveyed more than 1,000 employees at mostly small to medium sized businesses in September 2020 and found that 70% thought working from home was a positive experience, but the same number stated that they still wanted an office of some sort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means there\u2019s still a demand for shared physical space, which Tushar believes can be explained by the three Cs.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Collaboration: Which people prefer to do in person due to the benefit of non-verbal communication and shaping bonds\/trusted spaces where people can create their best ideas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Culture: It can be created online and remotely, but relationship aren\u2019t often built until we meet in person &#8211; something the world of dating showed us during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clients: Are often won through trust building, something many people prefer to do over lunch or drinks. And we\u2019re likely to see more companies wanting to meet with clients as restrictions ease &#8211; something especially useful if you\u2019re competing with other offerings. If someone is taking a prospect for lunch and you\u2019re only scheduling a Zoom call, they can accelerate the relationship building process.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The UK Government\u2019s \u2018Get Back To Work\u2019 messaging<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Tushar\u2019s opinion, that messaging is quite patronising and comes from the idea of work being a place that you went to. However, the levels of innovation we\u2019ve seen in a short amount of time and how businesses have pivoted to survive has shown that it\u2019s not necessarily the case. Tushar feels that their wording could be better and that flexible working could really help them achieve their outcomes of building back better and levelling up areas outside of London and the South East.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flexible working could mean money is spent in those regions without companies having to build offices there and removes the location barrier from supply and demand or other reasons around achieving a better work-life balance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Better preparing managers and leaders to deal with this new reality<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pre-COVID, leaders were managing presenteeism over productivity and hours over output. Part of that is a generational thing linking back to the industrial revolution and factory workers clocking in and out &#8211; when they truly needed to be present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But now we\u2019ve had the information revolution. With knowledge based workers primarily working on laptops, managers need to measure performance in the right ways and ensure they\u2019ll win the war for talent, whether it\u2019s high quality or getting done. Because as location becomes less of a barrier, talent will have their pick of companies and employers need to create policies where they can hire those people and those people can be happy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>How companies returning to the workplace can prepare their teams<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lot of preparation has already been done in the past 12-14 months. The best management techniques for running a hybrid organisation are centered around having a remote-first mentality &#8211; so you still run it as it\u2019s remote and when they\u2019re physically in office or meeting, it\u2019s an added bonus or creates better output. Remote-first means communications across the company are fully digital, ensuring the right tools are in place and that you\u2019re measuring the right things. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>How to connect<br \/>\n<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find Tushar on <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tusharagarwaluk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/hubblehq.com\/\">Hubble<\/a> or connect with them on <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/3519114\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LinkedIn<\/a>, <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hubblehq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a>, <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HubbleHQ\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a> and <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hubble\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find Nelson on <\/span><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nelsonsivalingam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThatNelsonDude\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find HowNow on <\/span><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/hownowhq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hownowteam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/hownowhq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><b>Where to subscribe<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>If you want to watch the episodes, head over and <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC4QrYnD1H3oqVeAQQTyOhGQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">subscribe on our YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And if you prefer to listen to your podcasts, search on whichever app you use or click on one of the links below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/70k8Cfn70DcPD0CEBA1ySs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spotify<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breaker.audio\/99-problems-but-work-aint-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Breaker<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/gethownow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anchor<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy85ZDNkMGQ0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Podcasts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/99-problems-but-work-aint-one\/id1572432505\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re running London\u2019s largest online marketplace for flexible office space, the COVID-19 work from&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":19869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3119],"tags":[1599],"yst_prominent_words":[1616,937],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19864"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19976,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19864\/revisions\/19976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19864"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}