Working from home is great for the people who get to stay in their comfortable clothes while working a professional career – but urban areas are starting to take a hit. From restaurants to shopping areas, many urban areas are seeing less traffic now that some of their local businesses have decided to remain remote workplaces.
The global pandemic that started shutting down cities across the globe in March 2020 was the start of a new era of work. While the initial focus was on the people who now had to work in a different way or had to find other employment because of factors related to the pandemic, the zone of impact has shifted. Now, the people who are working from home are often doing so by choice – either due to a workplace allowing them to choose or because they’ve elected to remain with a company that has transitioned to permanent remote status.
The effects that urban areas are feeling from these remote workplace shifts are rather dramatic. As office spaces sit empty and less traffic comes down the street, businesses are feeling the long-term fallout of this transition. So, what can urban areas do to adapt to employees working from home?
Offer WiFi and Collaborative Areas
Encouraging small businesses and restaurants to offer wifi and collaborative areas as a way to incentivize traffic to the area can help bring in more business to your urban area. While these certainly aren’t the end-all-be-all solutions to the problem, it definitely helps to incentivize the idea of going downtown.
“Often, one of the things people love most about working from home is that they don’t have to commute,” says Max Ade, CEO of Pickleheads. “By offering more options for workstations throughout the urban areas, you can bring business in with the work-from-home crowd by giving them unique workspaces and the added benefit of being able to grab their meal or coffee without leaving their ‘desk’ for the day.”
“Creating spaces or even incentivizing businesses to turn some of their empty office space into a collaborative zone can restore the foot traffic in your urban areas,” says Max Schwartzapfel, CMO of Fighting For You. “The problem a lot of urban areas are facing is the fact that previously bustling areas now feel like a ghost town, and in-person businesses are suffering. There is still a need to rent out office space for individual or group projects from time to time so this can be a great solution.”
Create Work From Home Groups
Urban areas can incentivize joining work-from-home groups based on industries or interests to draw people in and encourage people to come to the areas of need. Whether they’re connecting people through social media, a specific app or platform, or even an email chain – these work-from-home groups can be the answer to several issues.
“Often, people love working from home because it gives them the flexibility to do things on their schedule,” says Yusuf Shurbaji, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Prismfly. “However, it’s also very isolating. A large number of people who work from home complain that their biggest issue is the feeling of isolation due to the lack of contact with others in a face-to-face setting. Creating groups for people who work from home can help businesses and people struggling with isolation by attracting them to these downtown areas to meet.”
“Having a flexible schedule and working from home is lots of fun until you realize how much you actually enjoyed being able to talk to other people,” says Maegan Griffin, Founder, CEO and Nurse Practitioner at Skin Pharm. “Urban areas can benefit from groups of people who work from home and meet in the urban zones on a regular basis to bring foot traffic back to the area that is lacking business.”
Host Events for Employees Working From Home
Apart from the general day-to-day conversation that people miss when they shift to working from home, they also miss out on fun events that would’ve happened. Think about it: in the workplace, there are often annual picnics, family days, holiday parties, retirement celebrations, and more. When you work from home, these things are usually condensed to an email or maybe an e-card that everyone signs.
“Team up with small businesses, your parks, and rec team, and other organizations to create a schedule of events specifically for employees who are working from home,” says Chris Bridges, CEO of VITAL Card. “Not only does this provide a great networking opportunity for businesses and employees alike, but it lets everyone enjoy the perks of living in a city and they may even make a few new friends.”
“Hosting annual events through the city or other departments can be a great way to get your work-from-home employees out and about to bring in business,” says Sumeer Kaur, CEO of Lashkaraa. “Plan fun days, picnics, or recruit small businesses to help come up with something creative for your city’s urban remote workforce.”
Factor Remote Work Into Urban Planning
While there will always be a need for urban planning regardless of where people are working, it can help to account for remote workers as you go about this process. While, previously, it was important to have good traffic flow into the urban areas with lots of parking for people working in office buildings, you may be finding new challenges around the city now that people are changing their habits.
“Something I didn’t think about when the world started going remote was how much urban planning is done in terms of parking and traffic congestion,” says Melissa Rhodes, CEO of Psychics1on1. “I’ve personally experienced the difference in accessibility and travel efficiency when it comes to trying to do things like go to the park or find a parking spot near my favorite lunch spots, which were previously not crowded at all.”
“Having people who work from home can be a great benefit for urban areas if things are planned well,” says Jesse DeBear, Fractional CMO of Renew Anchored Dentures. “Rather than having as high of a demand for centralized housing and resources, people who work from home tend to look for less populated areas a little further out from those zones. All of these habits and preferences have to be accounted for when looking at the urban planning process.”
Host Events For Small Businesses
Small businesses in urban areas really are some of the most affected groups when it comes to the transition to working from home. While many of them have online stores, they often still rely on in-store purchases and word of mouth to sell locally. If nobody’s chatting around the water cooler or bringing that small business purchase into work to spark conversation, how will others learn about them?
“Hosting a small business bash or other events that allow local small businesses to get the word out about themselves is a great way to adapt to employees working from home,” says Marcus Hutsen, Business Development Manager of Patriot Coolers. “While chain stores are affected by these transitions, it’s often the small businesses that help make your city what it is. Showing support and encouraging others to remember the small businesses that are still there is a great way to help your urban area adapt to employees working from home.”
“Creating a fun event for people who work from home to attend in the vicinity of your urban areas that are feeling the most strain from the transition to employees working from home,” says George Fraguio, Vice President of Bridge Lending at Vaster Capital. “Create a community among these work-from-home staff by hosting events, parties, or other experiences for them in areas that will encourage them to visit businesses that have fallen off of their radar now that they’re not commuting.”
Conclusion
Urban areas have been hit hard by the transition of large and small businesses to working from home. One of the biggest factors is the amount of traffic that is seeing the areas that previously were filled with bustling workers on their way to and from work. Whether they were stopping during the commute or exploring during a lunch break, many urban areas had customers regularly stopping by when people were working in person. Without this traffic, it becomes difficult to make sales and grow.
Hopefully, this article has given you some inspiration for how urban areas can adapt to employees working from home! While things may be different, urban areas are usually more than able to adapt to this new norm. Whether it’s through planning events for people who work from home or changing your mindset of how city planning should happen, there are a variety of ways to set up your urban areas for success while employees are working from home.
Delventhal, M. J., Kwon, E., & Parkhomenko, A. (2021, March 3). Jue Insight: How do cities change when we work from home? Journal of Urban Economics. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119021000139
Henderson, T. (2022, May 22). As remote work persists, cities struggle to adapt. PEW Research Center. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/05/24/as-remote-work-persists-cities-struggle-to-adapt
