People to be asked to shape future of Welsh workplace

People in Wales will soon be able to suggest places in their community they’d like to work, as part of the Welsh Government’s long-term ambition to see around 30% of the workforce working from home or working remotely.

Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, has described the initiative as “an opportunity for people to shape the future of the Welsh workplace.”

An interactive map – hosted by Commonplace – will ask people if they would like to work remotely, and will allow people to drop a pin in a spot on the map where they would like to see a co-working hub.

The interactive map forms part of research and evidence gathering to gauge demand for local work hubs, indicating where they need to be and if they’re available already. From today [28^th January] people are able to sign up for news about the project, ahead of the map’s launch on Thursday 11^th February.

Working locally offers an alternative to working at home or in a central office, giving people more flexibility in how they work.

As part of its response to coronavirus the Welsh Government is working towards an increase in the number of people working away from a traditional office environment. It will be achieved by driving changes to Wales’ working culture that give people more choice. Developing a network of local work hubs has been identified as a priority area to help deliver this.

Pilot projects are being identified to test uptake and effectiveness, and the types of delivery models that can be used. These will add the evidence base and inform any further roll out. The Welsh Government is working with partners in the public and private sectors with further details also being released in January.

Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, commented:

“This is an opportunity for people to shape the future of the Welsh workplace and I hope as many people as possible will have their say.

“The pandemic has created the need to work from home to protect public health, but there are a wider ranging set of benefits to working away from the office that we need to make the most of. For some people home working is not viable and local hubs will help them work without facing a lengthy commute.

“We want to give people more choice about where and how they work. Remote working is one of the options we want to give people, and when the map launches people will have the chance to develop the evidence base we will use in taking these plans forward.”