Trend of Walk to Work to gain popularity post Covid times

Change is the only constant; and adapting to changed circumstances, India has accepted ‘Work from Home’ (WFH) as an integral part of co-existing with COVID-19. However, space constraints, poor internet connectivity, data security concerns, and lower employee engagement and motivation are problem areas when we look at WFH as comprising the ‘new normal’. The solution lies in ‘work from near home’, by reconfiguring banquet and club house spaces to create work spaces within the project – but outside the home.

‘Work from home’ makes way for ‘work from near home’, the optimal response from the real estate sector as it responds to changes and adapts to the ‘new normal’. It is a single point increase in the list of project amenities, adding ‘Business Centre’ to the list – which not just solves the problem areas in WFH, but also returns the home to the family. In most cases, we are seeing the trend being one where banquet spaces and club houses are being reconfigured so that those facilities continue within smaller spaces, with work spaces taking up the balance space.

The cost of turning existing banquet and club house spaces in projects to business centres is not huge; nor are the maintenance costs. It provides the ideal working experience for the human resources; for families, it brings back their ‘home’ from being a partial work-space. This is a trend which might undergo tweaks as it goes along – we may see other common spaces being partially turned into ‘work stations’ as more residents opt to ‘work from near home’. Projects on the drawing board are already factoring in business centres as among the ‘must have’ amenity options. Just as club houses accept membership requests from those not residing within the complex/ township; work from near home has the potential to become a revenue earning amenity for the project – in all respects, a practical solution.