As the COVID-19 pandemic upended the traditional model of a corporate headquarters where employees congregate daily, it has also highlighted how companies can more effectively use schedules, space, and technology to be more productive. Co-presence is no longer essential for productivity because more jobs than ever can be conducted and monitored virtually.
Covid-19 also revealed the extent to which businesses and their employees want the freedom of choice. In turn, the pandemic accelerated several alternatives to the traditions of our working lives – for both ‘how’ we work and ‘where’ we work.
Though working from home is unlikely to (and probably shouldn’t) become the be-all and end-all of your workplace strategy, it’s been a useful stand-in with some merit. Notably, it allows us to trade in time previously dedicated to commuting for something more enriching – be it a mindful morning, a workout, or quality time with loved ones.
However, according to a recent report, a significant majority of businesses — 77 percent — believe that the lack of social contact during work hours has compromised employee wellness. As a result, many organizations believe it’s time to reinvent the working environment with a middle ground between packed offices and the isolation of working at home: the hub-and-spoke office model.
What is a hub and spoke model?
This setup — in which a company operates a centralized main office (hub) with more localized satellite offices (spokes) — is a fundamental driver of workspace mobility. Offering an attractive yet accessible hybrid of both home and office work, the model increases.
In the world of office space, a hub and spoke model includes a primary HQ (the hub), often in a city center, combined with local, satellite offices closer to where employees live (spokes).
The hub-and-spoke concept is not new. The term derives from the airport industry, where instead of sending half-empty flights directly between smaller spoke destinations, airlines have passengers change flights at a central hub between the two airports. More recently, the term has come to refer to a more flexible workspace and working style, given that hub-and-spoke offices allow employees to work from either their city hub; a dedicated, strategic spoke location such as a regional workspace; or a personal home-based spoke.
Enabling a Cohesive Culture
While office space is a physical representation of an organization’s people, culture, and values, office space itself does not make a company. But the challenge of having multiple office spokes is ensuring that the employee experience — both in the office and culturally — feels cohesive. Companies must then deliberately define what cohesion means for them with consistent and clear interventions.
Creating a sense of cohesion is no doubt harder to do remotely than in person, which is why many companies seek specialist help from organizations that offer integrated systems and sophisticated scheduling technology. Such integrated systems make it easy to communicate, manage, and collaborate, offering a consistent way to engage with teammates and offices and merging the online and offline worlds into one.
Flexibility has become the No. 1 requirement for key talent when considering joining a company, and demand for flexibility will doubtless continue. By establishing new spokes — satellite offices in other cities — a company gains greater access to talent located beyond its hub city. Companies that foster flexible work arrangements will benefit by attracting top-shelf candidates — as well as increased productivity, profitability, and loyalty from their current workforce.
The impact of the hub-and-spoke model is also significant in terms of a company’s environmental impact — a growing concern of many employees. Downsizing to a smaller hub can shrink a company’s carbon footprint by lowering the amount of energy expended on appliances, air-conditioning, and heating, as well as emissions from commuting employees’ vehicles.
The way companies use office space must also evolve.
On one end of the spectrum, the closed-door office allows individuals the space for all types of work behaviors and styles within a bigger shared space — but this layout is costly to build and can be inefficient. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the open floor plan, which allows for excellent efficiency, in theory, but is too often a behavioral mess in practice, as when one employee talking on Zoom distracts a colleague nearby who’s trying to do heads-down focused work.
Another factor, then, of a successful hub-and-spoke model is an office layout steeped in behavior-based design offering separate spaces for meetings and collaboration, phone booths for video and phone calls, and quiet rooms for focused work. In this arrangement, individual employees will no longer need dedicated desks; instead, employees can choose a work location, either a hub or spoke, that best suits their intended behavior. This is an exciting time for employees, as employers increasingly empower them to personalize and customize how and where they work best.
Why stay in one location when your business could go further? Adopting the hub-and-spoke model gives you a larger, more significant geographic footprint that can broaden your company’s audience, customer, and client reach.
The best of both worlds
Crucially, hub and spoke models provide teams with access to office amenities, but with the flexibility of being closer to home. By giving employees the option to work closer to home, rather than at home, satellite offices can prevent the pitfalls of remote work (such as isolation, poor collaboration, and makeshift desk setups), but also mirror some of its benefits, such as less time spent commuting.
From an employee’s perspective, high-speed broadband, a dedicated desk, and a designated work environment (which doesn’t need to be actively protected from domestic distractions) might be a welcome relief. And from a business’s perspective, management of both employees and the physical operational environment is easier.
The bottom line: Realistic or idealistic?
It’s clear that Covid-19 has re-opened the ‘dispersed workforce’ debate. We know that choice and autonomy will be paramount to any business’s future real estate strategy.
But the hub and spoke model certainly has its merits. As one study reveals: “Embracing the hub and spoke model and providing flexible working solutions could be the answer to key human resource challenges.”
Likewise, in the current climate, easy-to-reach satellite offices that don’t require employees to use public transport might be an attractive option for some, especially as a substitute for working from home. But flexible offices will be crucial in allowing businesses to test the waters.
