National Work from Hospo Week aims to bring employers and employees to common ground
Next week is National Work from Hospo Week (October 16-20) and all employees are encouraged to work from the pub or their local café.
“It’s all about improving the mental health, wellbeing and productivity of the workforce and kickstarting a busy period for our much-loved Aussie hospo industry,” Third Place co-founder Paul Veltman told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Third Place bills itself as “co-working meets hospitality”. By its own description, it is an ‘all in one’ workspace, management and employee experience platform, for companies, employees, professionals and freelancers to thrive with hybrid and distributed work - offering a selection of flexible, convenient and inspirational hospitality-based workspaces, vetted for full productivity and collaboration at leading hotels, restaurants, pubs and cafes.
It has recently partnered with tap-and-order platform me&u to help employers load up credit for food and drink as part of their remote workers’ package.
The companies are working together to promote the work from hospo ethos this month, to take workers away from the isolation of home working. They are also aiming to make it an annual event.
“Most of our hospitality and hotel partners absolutely want to attract third-place workers and see it as an opportunity to generate new revenue, increased footfall and build customer loyalty,” Veltman told the SMH.
Associate Professor John Hopkins from Swinburne University has researched the third place working mentality and says most who do believe that it has a positive impact on their wellbeing.
“Places like cafes and restaurants can offer workers a valuable third work environment: less formal and easier to get to than the office, but less isolating than working from home on their own,” the expert in flexible and remote work said.
“Prior to the pandemic, staying late in the office to make up for time spent at the dentist was about as flexible as things got for many of us,” Hopkins said.
However, there has been a big shift as many came to realise workplace flexibility helped their work-life balance.
The definition of flexibility has now changed.
“It’s important to note that the current ‘push back to the office’ we are hearing a lot about is aimed at getting workers back to the office three days per week, not five days like before COVID. That in itself is a significant net gain in flexibility for a lot of people,” Hopkins told the SMH.
Hopkins sees Working from Hospo Week as another way for employees and employers to find a common ground.
“The focus should always be on outcomes and output rather than badge swipes and how many days people come into the office. Forcing people to do something they don’t want to do, without clear purpose or justification, rarely ends well,” he said.
Jonathan Jackson, 9th October 2023
