Workcation 2.0: How Hospitality-Influenced Coworking Spaces Drive Happiness and Wellbeing

Summary – Are workcations only the beginning of a tectonic change in the modern, flexible work-life, or just a fad? With workcation frequency growing worldwide, it is intricately woven to the rise in demand of hospitality-rooted coworking spaces as professionals prefer to experience the best of both worlds. Join us as we explore more on this.

We live in a day and age where the borders of work and life are getting narrower every passing moment. As the millennials slowly transition into the majority workforce, they call it ‘workcation’ where they take their work to vacations, as their colleagues join in from their home offices. Businesses continue to slowly emerge from the aftermaths of fresh resurgences of the pandemic, the need for a decentralized, distributed work settings are vital to encompass the hybrid workplace model. Such geographically separated spaces would add more work appeal for employees looking to travel, post-vaccinations for a pleasant change. With ongoing mass vaccination drives, the health safety protocols may subside sooner, leading to an upsurge in domestic and international travel, after years of being stuck at homes. And as the exodus of professionals around the globe, to world destinations, workcation will usher in the rise of aesthetic, hospitality-centered shared office settings that are much better than working from a noisy hotel lobby.  

( The above graph represents the trends and predictions of business travel and the factors such as proximity, travel causes, and sectors affecting it, once the pandemic subsides, as per the McKinsey survey in June-July 2020 )

For employees, a workplace experience can be fulfilling and thriving as long as it combines the right scope of learning, encouraging interactions, performance, and wellbeing. Maslow’s study underlines the role of aesthetic spaces in terms of the psychological benefits of the workforce. However, currently, remote workers are left with no other option than balancing their work in between caring for their family, homeschooling, running errands – causing disruption to their productivity, and in some cases their overall performance. With the trend of working from domestic spaces, professionals find themselves unable to express their creativity or adapt as per the necessity of the future. This is where destination coworking fills the gap, especially with their essence of being travel-worthy, hospitable, aesthetic, and collaborative backdrop encouraging a sense of vitality. Here’s how:

• Unwind, as you work, throughout the day

ILM survey reveals that most workers in the UK feel choked because of the rigid operations of their workplace, and undergo a severe amount of stress. This causes them to hit creative blockage often, bringing to the need for thorough relaxation. Traditional offices are generally not equipped to provide adequate amenities to de-stress, something that the hospitality-centered, travel-destination coworking spaces are known to provide ubiquitously. Who doesn’t want to wake up to working from such unique workspaces that resonate your zen with the calm, natural outdoors as you start the day with a steaming mug of your favorite brew?

( The above image represents brain wave markers for work fatigue in 12 professionals, as they go about with their workday filled with virtual video meetings. The significantly low, relax index in the graph goes to show how the productivity or stress levels of employees are affected when they’re working from a confined, domestic space )

Later in the day, for a video meeting, you can find yourself in their lavish conference room, equipped with the latest technology-enabled amenities, to make it seamless to keep the dialogue flowing. The environment of such dedicated meeting areas can help you to stay thoughtful, lively, and curious about your surroundings and your meeting. 

Similarly, as you wrap up your work for the day, imagine looking out to the setting sun, as your coworkers catch up with you in the lounge, cherishing the successful moments of the day. As a professional, accessing such natural, distinct areas in a workspace can be a blessing to be the best versions of yourself all the time; all the more if you’ve been struggling with your work-life balance.  

• Experience novelty, exclusivity, innovation-driven work environment

Hybrid work is a reality that’s to stay for long, and as per research by the Hay Group, it is found that highly engaged employees outperform 50% more than their least-engaged counterparts, on average. Under such scenarios, the more rewarding the workspace experience is for you, the higher is the employee retention and productivity for your employer. Teaming up with the hospitality industry, coworking operators are now focused on creating fresh, one-of-a-kind, personalized work neighborhoods for individuals, enabling them to move around in between these facilities. Such ‘neighborhoods’ are generally boutique hotels with the right space planning, design, architecture, geographical advantages, giving these more character, professionals more control to their work settings, all this while enabling their mobility. Furthermore, since hotels have their own dedicated spaces, restricted to guests and outsiders – the distinct access to work enthusiasts, halfway around the world, is a reward in itself. And the best part is, destination coworking is employer approved. So, post-vaccination, when you feel you’ve had enough of work-from-home – it’s the world calling, only this time your managers won’t bat an eye about it.

What About the New Normal?

The pandemic has brought into light the rich viability of working from home, even for industries that frowned upon the possibility until a few years ago. While for some it has made work tedious, for many it is an opportunity to shift their focus on personal growth – but it’s a fact that we all crave the normal. Our living rooms can never take the place of water-cooler areas in the office, which used to be a common hangout for teammates. When moving around, getting the lay of the land becomes a commodity, having coworking operators distributed around the globe can be a welcoming motivator to get back to work and network with professionals who share the same passion for work as you. 

We believe in curating emotional responses for our members through our coworking spaces in Kolkata, all the more providing them a haven to de-stress, and relax alongside their work. The detailed, thoughtful decisions that went behind its statistical location of being just 30 mins away from the international airport, its design, dynamics, and energy are meant to be leveraged by digital nomads and individuals on workcations worldwide. The city’s old-world charm, diverse cultural heritage, provides the brimming potential for corporate travelers to catch up on their work, en route their journey.