Explainer: Has hybrid working taken off in the GCC?

The types of roles that can be performed at 100 per cent remote mode are going to be more limited

- Christos Adamantiadis

How much of an acceleration did the pandemic provide to hybrid working?

If we look back, over the past 18 months most organisations had to pivot at great speed from largely conventional work models to remote working. And in doing so, they were forced to swiftly adjust their operating model and reinvent their delivery model; grapple with totally novel work-related challenges and practices; and experiment with new ways of working, taking risks which, only a few years ago, would have been unthinkable.

Given how successful that transition proved to be, there now lies a window of opportunity for organisations to fundamentally rethink and transform their approach to their people and workplace.

As a firm, we were already shifting to a hybrid model pre-pandemic and over the last 12 months we have opened four ‘smart offices’ across the Middle East and Africa.

While most companies shifted to remote working during the peak of the pandemic, many have now reverted back to all office days – even if an employee’s physical presence is not required. Will office working remain the norm in the region for the near future?