Coming like a ghost town (ep 6)

The new working patterns (hybrid, virtual, flexible) that are now widely available are causing organisations to consider how much and what type of office space they need. With the potential for more than 800,000 roles to be migrated away from inner London offices, what does this mean for the City?

We share recent research conducted by AWA on the potential reduction in roles carried out in offices in London and look at trends in India and San Francisco to get a sense of whether moves away from big centres are temporary or permanent. We also hear from the British Heart Foundation, who are reducing the amount of space they occupy in London as a consequence of listening to the way staff want to work and realising they can substantially reduce their accommodation costs.

AWA’s Senior Associate in Geneva, Clark Elliott, also shares that people in Switzerland tend to live outside the big cities, so there hasn’t been a big exodus during the pandemic. He also wonders whether the previous practice of living outside Switzerland and flying into the country to work during the week will hold up once offices are fully open.

Featured guests:

• Lara Al Ansari, Associate, AWA (London)

• Kerry Smith, Director of People and Organisational Development, British Heart Foundation (London)
• Partha Sarma, Senior Associate, AWA (Mumbai)
• Nida Mehtab, Senior Associate, AWA, (San Francisco)
• Clark Elliott, Senior Associate, AWA (Geneva)