I came across an interesting article which set me thinking. Increasingly, Swedish firms are adopting the 6- hour per day work schedule to enhance productivity and enabling better work ? life balance. With changing work patterns, what does it mean for the corporate occupier and the real estate developer? It would be interesting to evaluate the financial impact of the under- utilized space. It remains to be seen whether the 6 ?hour work days result in enough increase in productivity to sustain the same or increased levels of output to be able to rationalise the cost. An obvious area of impact would be reduced energy cost; lesser work hours would translate into lesser energy consumed (for most businesses). An improvement of financial results in these firms which have adopted the 6- hour days would indicate the acceptability of this idea, and may be an increased preference for this schedule.
From the corporate occupiers? perspective, this would mean reassessment of leasing expenses in assets and consider how to better sweat these assets. From the developer?s perspective, it means a shift from the conventional thought process of offering just a high quality product. It would mean re-aligning their design and planning to cater to flexibility of operations, co ? existing with other tenants, flexible space utilization.
This to me is a very exciting development as the traditional is been challenged and the newer work force seems attuned. I guess its early days but over the next decade or so I reckon a combination of flexible timings, short work days, humanising the work space by design and utilization, safe office environments etc. will all be experimented with and a sound financial practice will evolve. Wait to see how this will be adopted by the CFO?s office.