Flexible work: The rise – and pros and cons – of shunning the 'office'

Friday, 31 May 2019

Working from home could save you a significant amount of fuel costs every week.

Chowing down on avocado toast as you check emails on your smart phone may sound like the ultimate millennial stereotype – but it's likely to become a more popular way to work.

Recent research on behalf of Lion Ventures found half of New Zealand workers were either working flexibly or had the option to do so.

Millennials – people aged 18 to 34 – appeared to be driving the move away from the 9 to 5 office routine, with 89 per cent saying they wanted flexibility in their job, compared to 79 per cent of the general population.

Across all age groups, the majority – 73 per cent – of those surveyed believed working flexibly would improve their productivity.

* Stress busting: The haves and have nots of workplace flexibility

* Millennials lack faith in their employers, want purpose over paycheck: study

James Hurman owns the start up Storytech. He's been working flexibly for five years and says using co-working spaces allows him to have the energy that comes with having a lot of people around you while building up his business.

* 'Eye-watering' loans leave students feeling sick and anxious about future**

However, most workers still craved human interaction. Ninety-six per cent believed it was important to meet people face-to-face and 81 per cent wanted to see others more often.

James Hurman at the BizDojo co-working space in Auckland.

Cafes were nutritionist Chantal Cuthers' office of choice for two years. She wanted a change of scenery from her home but couldn't afford to rent an office when she first started her own business.

'I worked freelancing to different businesses to help with recipe development and health blogs and so all I needed was my laptop,' she said.

Monica Yianakis, head of Lion Ventures, which has just launched an app called YOWO that Kiwi workers can use to find cafes and bars to work from remotely.

For James Hurman, founder of the startup Storytech, using the BizDojo co-working space in Auckland has allowed him to feed off the energy of other creatives while being his own boss.

'The thing about co-working, particularly for a small company in an early stage, often you'd otherwise be in your bedroom or you'd be in a really small office and you wouldn't have many people around you.

'It's a lot nicer [co-working] than just setting a pokey little office [up] by yourself or just with a tiny team.'

Professor Jarrod Haar, deputy director of the New Zealand Work Research Institute at AUT, saw few downsides to flexible work.

The lack of commute time could lead to increased efficiency and business owners could reduce their office space, and along with it parking, heating and lighting costs.

'The negatives might be a lack of connectivity and culture amongst team members but, this can easily be alleviated by ensuring remote workers touch base with team mates at least one to two times a week,' he said.

Monica Yianakis, head of Lion Ventures, an arm of the Auckland brewery focused on sociability, expected the demand for flexibility to continue to grow.

'We need to start re-framing how we see work in order to answer to this need of flexibility. We need to stop thinking about work being a place we go to and somewhere we're there Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and more about being something we do and the output that we generate,' she said.

Lion Ventures has launched an app called Yowo which workers seeking flexibility can use to find suitable cafes, bars, hotels and co-working spaces.