Liberated work: Responding to the unshackling of ‘work’ from ‘place’

The largest health crisis of our time has convincingly unshackled ‘work’ from ‘place’, but we have only seen the beginning of hybrid work solutions. In fact, our existing concept of hybrid work is simply a rudimentary stepping-stone towards a version of flexibility that is yet to be widely seen: truly liberated work. This paper seeks to explore how companies will transform their work practices to enable a liberated work environment. Knowledge workers, who are in very high demand and have suddenly become a critical customer segment for organisations, will experience no limits to their freedom of thought, behaviour or location in this new landscape. In addition, we explore how businesses can deliver a fluid workplace ecosystem, which includes a broad network of workspaces that go well beyond the binary options of working from ‘home’ or the ‘office’, and outline how every business department must contribute to creating and implementing a solution. The ramifications of this ongoing shift for corporate real estate and the broader commercial office market, which is experiencing a continuing state of flux globally, is a crucial consideration in discussions on the future of work. Delivering liberated work should be on the agenda for all organisations, large, small and government, as planning for the democratisation of work practices can ensure productivity, employee retention and improved diversity in years to come.