Heineken Cambodia director of corporate affairs Anne Ollivier delivers aid. Supplied
The Nation (Thailand)/ANN: A PREDICTED boom in flexible working could contribute $10.04 trillion to the global economy by 2030, according to the first comprehensive socio-economic study of changing workplace practices commissioned by Regus, a global working space provider firm.
The survey conducted, by independent economists, studied 16 key countries to delve into the state of flexible working both now and through 2030.
Regus found that between eight and 13 per cent of all employment will be associated with flexible workspaces in most developed economies by 2030. Greater levels of flexible working will save businesses money, reduce operating costs and boost productivity – ultimately causing a ripple effect across the economy from core businesses through to supply chains.
The specific benefits include higher business and personal productivity, lower overheads for office space for companies using flexible workspace, and millions of hours saved commuting. All of these factors contribute to flexible working’s gross value contribution to the economy.
China and India are predicted to see the greatest gross value add (GVA) increase from flexible workspace, potentially experiencing an increase of GVA of 193 and 141 per cent in their respective economies.
This equates to $1.4 trillion for China and as much as $375.8 billion for India each year. While the US has a slightly lower per cent value-add to its economy from flexible working at 109 per cent, it will see the highest gross value increase at $4.5 trillion.
The study found that flexible working doesn’t just benefit economies – it also helps individuals. Remote workers were almost twice as likely to say they love their job as those in the same industry working in a traditional workspace.
A huge factor in this may be the time saved by individuals due to remote and flexible working. According to an accelerated growth model, which lays out a scenario for uptake of flexible working at a higher-than-current rate, cutting out the commute by working remotely could save 3.53 billion hours by 2030. That is equivalent to the time spent at work every year by 2.01 million people.
People in China, the US, India and Japan will see the greatest hours saved in the commute under the accelerated growth scenario. Working people in China will gain back two hours each, while workers in the US will have nearly a full extra day of leave by cutting out the commute.
Noelle Coak, the Regus country head for Thailand, Taiwan and Korea says that Regus Thailand business centres are part of a vibrant, evolving business landscape, supporting business development and expansion for emerging opportunities within Asean.
There is a real demand in Bangkok, as a growing centre of commerce with an expanding start-up culture, for flexible office space solutions such as Regus. Flexible solutions can act as a springboard to help new enterprises into profitability and success by controlling costs while enabling growth and increased productivity, said Coak.
