As restrictions lift and the office opens, many of us are finding ourselves with a hybrid working dilemma. Your office involves a long commute, and you find working from home difficult. Both can be unproductive for you and your employer.
There is an alternative
The third space is a workplace between your office and home. It is also a rising trend in the world of world.
I found my third space between lockdowns. The Hotbox office is two hours away and not an option for a daily commute. Struggling with isolation and the distractions of home life, The Fisheries is a 10 minute cycle ride and has kept me sane over the past year.
Professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, Dan Cable suggests that third spaces are a specific, practical, affordable solution. and could be part of the long-term revolution in our ways of working. Ten minutes from your house, that's a really important piece of this. We're getting rid of an hour [commute] each way each day, 10 hours of wasted time
The benefits are plenty
You meet new people from a wide range of organisations. With a Fora , Arc or The Office Group membership you have variety and can work from their different locations.
There are activities that contribute to your wellbeing. Yoga, Hiit classes and a worker's lunch, are included at The Fisheries. Talks and events are organised at the TOG (The Office Group) venues and Bureau .
Helping out the hospitality industry
With a Reef membership, you are shown amazing hospitality spaces for your forward-thinking teams to work, collaborate and socialise from across 17+ UK cities, with also benefiting from helping the hospitality industry.
James Coughlan, CEO and founder of Reef attended The Great British Workplace Wellbeing Series recently where he says most people were talking about the third space. They also mentioned how important the commute is acting as 'bookends' between personal and work life balance and that the lines are blurred, where work from home is becoming living at work.
Perks of the job
Staff retention post pandemic is an issue so offering a third space to employees could be part of employee benefits packages that to me resonates, Prof Cable adds. To me that feels like a value add, like a benefit, it feels like 'you're trusting me and liberating me to do my best work'.
Have you found the ideal third space to work in? We'd love to hear your stories, please get in touch.