THE NEW 'HOT' SUMMER WORKING TREND?

As new heat waves threaten to suffocate us this summer, a difficult choice is offered to the modern hybrid worker: brave an often difficult journey by car or public transport to afford the luxury of life-saving corporate air conditioning; or work from home in private spaces often less equipped or isolated.

Some of our European or American friends might have find the perfect solution with the new concept of Greendesking, meaning working outside, in the open air, within your company or telecommuting, in optimal technical conditions, in order to answer the fundamental human needs to be connected to Nature ... and wifi.  

The 'îlots d'été' in Montreal. The city is already offering a network of forty free outdoor workspaces, with umbrellas, internet and electricity.

More than a simple trend, Greendesking is above all a Quality of Life at Work tool (QLW).  Several studies have indeed already demonstrated it helps reduce absenteeism and stress :

  • Researchers at the University of Oregon, in the United States, observed that working in an environment connected to nature tended to reduce the risk of absenteeism among employees by 10% on average.
  • The 2015 Human Spaces report suggests that employees who do not have a window overlooking the outside and a natural environment are the most stressed.

But if the Greendesking trend has already been adopted by some start-ups, it often comes up against material constraints. Most large companies, especially those located in business districts, do not have outdoor spaces to set up work outside. And this working mode is also not really compatible with cold environments. Its large-scale implementation seems therefore hardly realistic.

But for the happy few who would be able to adopt it, Greendesking is definitively offering the promises of a brighter, more productive and happier future.