Work-Life Balance, Flexibility & More: Here's What The New-Age Worker Wants

As of 2020, slightly over a third of the professional demographic consists of young people. With changing times, the requirements of the new-age workers are also transforming and the rest of the world is actively responding to this newly formed zeitgeist.

The new-age worker sees herself as a ‘creator’ and looks for meaning beyond just monetary gains. Seeking a ‘higher-order’ to things, this modern workforce is driven to finding a deeper purpose in their work and their lifestyle. A deeper study of the new-age working professional will make us realise that the crux of the changed work moral is all about the ‘three Is’.

i. Insight

ii. Impact

iii. Integrity

Extremely wary of time—be it time spent working or chilling in their meditative ‘me time’—the new-age worker has her priorities structured and her work is passion-driven.

As India is transforming and moving towards a self-dependent, insight-backed world, our work systems are increasingly breaking the glass-ceiling and accepting people from all walks of life. This inclusivity, teamed with an active willingness to create a healthy balance between work and life has brought India to the doors of an economy that is a lot more supportive of all kinds of ideas and endeavours. This is why it has become a lot easier to work in fields that were almost closed to the previous generation.

There is a strengthened demand for the work culture to be positive and inspiring. The modern worker seeks a work environment that is in line with their personal ethos and a space that offers them the opportunity to network and collaborate with a diverse range of people, coming not only from different socio-economic and regional backgrounds but also from different professional fields and different stages of their career. This creator of today values perspectives and is inclusive. These trends can be seen not just among freelancers and small business owners but also employees in large enterprises who increasingly chase meaningful projects, and demand flexible employee policies.

Coworking spaces are probably the best study to prove this. These spaces bring together diverse people under one roof, not just in terms of ethnicity and gender but also from professional backgrounds, such as enterprise companies, freelancers, artists, etc. It wouldn’t be unusual to find a team and be able to start a new venture in a coworking space.

According to EduBirdie, 83% of members at coworking and other forms of flexible spaces claim to have benefited from these new work environments over the last 5-10 years. Moreover, 84% of people who work out of coworking spaces are more engaged and motivated while in fact, contrary to the existing notion that coworking spaces are only for independent freelancers and solitary reapers, coworking spaces are emerging as excellent work habitats for enterprises and organisations of varying sizes.

Homegrown is only one of the examples of the same. For us at Homegrown, our cubicle-free, boundaryless workspace with its quirky and inspiring artwork, sizeable windows, and our most special member, Teddy Bear, was like an extension of our home. Until an unfortunate fire-incident forced us to temporarily move out of it. In that moment of crisis, we found refuge at WeWork, and in retrospect, it was responsible for a great number of changes we were able to make in our internal work culture. The space also led to several fruitful collaborations.

It was only when we moved to WeWork that we realised that coworking spaces also work supremely well for organisations like us. In its own words, WeWork is the “leading global network of workspaces where companies and people grow together.” Spread across India’s biggest locations, WeWork provides tailored workspace solutions to different people and enterprises based on their needs. With an idea of humanising work, WeWork extends the idea of an ‘office’ beyond four limiting walls at one particular address and gives members the luxury of choice - of working in a private nook, a common area, or a library surrounded by books.

At the same time, it offers a common roof to enterprises and independent creators who seek conversation, collaboration, and inspiration, blending their perspectives and skills to enable interaction and growth through events and meetups.

Reminiscing about our beautiful and extremely productive days at WeWork, Swati from Homegrown writes,

“WeWork Masterpiece graciously hosted us for a couple of weeks, and in all honesty, we had a wonderful time. The location was perfect. The WeWork office was right beside the Marol metro station, which made my life a hundred times easier. WeWork Masterpiece is spacious and perfectly compartmentalised to host freelancers and large workgroups comfortably, without them getting in each other’s way.

The team makes the institution. The WeWork community team was warm, courteous and friendly. Their attentiveness made us feel right at home. We had good, decently priced food in a well designed, warmly lit cafeteria, inhouse foosball and other engagement activities. Last but not the least, a weekly visit paid by puppies in the office brought a respite from work when necessary.”

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