WILL YOU WALK TO WORK?

With the outbreak of Covid-19, the ensuing security risks and administrative challenges of a largely remote working office culture have proven to be daunting to employees and organizations alike. Providing a solution to ease this, using coworking spaces and workspaces which allow users to book a place to work from near their homes is expected to see a rise. The Government norms around occupancy for private offices are not expected to become lenient any soon. However, industries such as Banking, Financial Services, Insurance and many more carry huge data security risks which cannot be secured by employees at their homes. This month at Entrepreneur, we analyze how well prepared are coworking spaces to provide COVID-safe and security-enabled spaces near homes, thereby providing the same atmosphere, amenities and cyber security that an entity would have given at its own facility. Will this be the new future of work?

- Punita Sabharwal

NAVIGATING THE GREAT UNKNOWN

315Work Avenue’s mission is to build workspace communities keeping in mind the need for togetherness even in times of social distancing. Talking about the demand for cowork spaces in times of pandemic, Manas Mehrotra, Founder, 315Work Avenue shares with optimism, “Despite the COVID-induced uncertainty, the future of the flex workspace sector remains sound. Medium-to-long-term fundamentals have remained sound as corporate occupiers seek out alternative options to reduce costs and capital expenditure. These corporates have been with us during these tough times and will continue to do so as they seek to save costs. The potential demand compression from likely increased work from home (WFH) will be offset by increased demand from de-densification of offices, keeping demand robust.”

Ever since the onset of coronavirus pandemic, the company has been the first mover on many standard operating procedures and safety measures. They have put in the best practices in place by consulting a vast panel of experts on our board which also includes several doctors. First is making use of an ‘Ioniser,’ a patented technology that provides hospital standard air filtration and kills all the germs in the air. Second is making use of coatings and paints which always keeps the surfaces sanitized. They have also redesigned seating arrangement at workstations and in areas like the cafeteria, lift, breakout lounges, etc. to maintain proper distancing. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, 315Work Avenue, has recently announced that it will cover the Covid-19 vaccination cost for all of its clients and their team members working out of 315Work Avenue workspaces. This initiative will cover close to 20,000 people including the existing and upcoming clients.