Mexico. Workspaces are undergoing an unprecedented transformation in Mexico. Post-pandemic offices are being redesigned not only to be functional, but to become spaces that enhance the productivity, creativity and well-being of employees. The above is clear from the analysis of the results of the 2024 Workspace Survey conducted by Gensler.
In the analysis, Sergio Pérez, executive director of Corporate Accounts Latam at Newmark, whose president in Mexico and regional director for Latin America is Giovanni D'Agostino and Martha Millán, director of the Work studio at Gensler Mexico, highlighted that this change responds to the need to attract and retain talent, adapting to new global and local trends that prioritize flexibility, collaborative work and work-life balance.
Martha Millán stated that offices located in 20-minute neighborhoods improve the quality of life of employees by providing quick access to essential services, reducing commuting time, and fostering a more balanced and productive work environment.
"We are no longer looking to have that gym or dog daycare within workspaces, but that these are located in what we call 20-minute cities, a trend that we have researched within Gensler where services such as restaurants or space for children, are within a radius of 20 minutes, looking for the office to be that space that allows you to be creative, work and concentrate," said the director of Gensler's Work Studio.
Sergio Pérez agreed with the above, asserting that the corporate space should be one in which employee productivity is increased, where people want to go, at least for a certain time, and that it is a design of the space that works for everyone. This functionality must respond to both cultural factors and flexibility issues so that all generations, whether baby boomers, generation X, millennials and centennials, can work together and have a work environment that is productive, efficient, fun and in which they can learn and grow.
In this sense, Martha Millán indicated that recent analyses suggest that young people are the ones who most seek to go to the office, because they need to have that mentor to teach them, where they can learn, but also because they want to be seen and to be among the first to be considered by their bosses.
In the analysis of the Evolution of Office Design in Mexico, the results of Gensler's 2024 Global Workplace Survey were announced, conducted with more than 16 thousand corporate employees in 15 countries and 10 industries.
The results highlight that companies should put people first when evaluating the performance of their workspaces to improve individual, team, and business outcomes, allowing for a re-examination of how the performance of these spaces is measured. He added that the survey indicated that Mexico is the third country where there are more people working from the office, after Japan and France.
"In Mexico, we work almost 60% of the time in offices and only 15% from home. The rest of the time we work in a third place, such as traveling, in a café, in a coworking space or in a client's office. In addition, the survey revealed that the workspace should be a combination of experiences, with different tools to work, individual areas for concentration, collaborative areas to learn and socialize, all with a pleasant, efficient and impactful design," said Martha Millán.
Finally, Sergio Pérez, executive director of Corporate Accounts Latam at Newmark, pointed out that in Mexico it is observed that the office after the pandemic, continues under a collaborative scheme, which is divided into in-person and hybrid collaboration and that companies must allocate resources to design the workspace to be functional, creative, with a mix of experiences and where people return to be productive.
