The coronavirus pandemic has forced many of us to work from home. Some companies are now considering making this new normal a standard practice even after the covid-19 situation gets resolved.

The coronavirus pandemic bought the world to a halt resulting in a huge revenue loss for businesses as well as economies. This, in turn, has forced organisations all over the world to rethink their workspace requirements and the cost incurred in non-core business activities in order to cope with the current times of crisis.

Our strength as a community lies in our resilience to learn, adapt and improvise. While the pandemic has stunted global economies, it has also triggered a new wave of thinking – that’s causing a paradigm shift in our social norms while rewiring our behavioural outlook towards all aspects of life on Earth. In other words, disruption is our growth catalyst.

Over the last few years, commercial real estate has gone through a metamorphosis of its own. The year 2019 marked a period of tremendous growth for the flexible workspace market. A report on the flexible workspace segment from CBRE suggests that the overall real estate stock saw a whopping increase of 60 percent from about 19 million sq. ft. to 30 million sq. ft.

Ravi is ensconced in his comfy chair with the laptop lit before him. His fingers are typing something, furiously. A reminder pops up, “Zoom call with the team in 5 minutes.” He gives one look at the reminder and increases the typing speed. Suddenly the room echoes with the click-clack of the keyboard. As he went on to do the final touches to his draft his wife accidentally switched off the WIFI while going for the mobile charger’s switch. In a moment, everything fell silent.

There has never been a time when people were more eager to go back to the office than now. Although this insight in no way underplays the tragedy suffered by millions around the world; it nevertheless echoes the cry of the human heart that craves some sense of normalcy.

In the past few weeks, ‘necessity’ in our diction has got a new lease on life. During the initial weeks, it became quite evident that the entire world was caught off-guard in this whirlwind of COVID-19. What came next was an equally disturbing knee-jerk reaction from companies and top minds of the world, as everyone was left scrambling for answers in different directions.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THESE FIVE CHECKS BEFORE RETURNING TO YOUR WORKPLACE?While we get comfortable with working from home in our pyjamas, our workplaces are undergoing a complete transformation to welcome us back anytime soon.

The world as we know it is going through a rapid change, and from the prima facie of things it appears – it will never be the same again. No sector of the economy is unscathed from the global paralyzing pandemic. While social distancing is the best-prescribed defense against COVID-19, the future of flexible workspace remains uncertain.