It’s 13:30 and 28-year-old Mårten Pella’s smartphone starts pinging, a signal that it’s time for us to stop working around his living room table and instead start our workout routine together.

He flicks to a seven-minute exercise video on his laptop. A cartoon character wearing bright red shorts begins instructing us to do star-jumps, squats and sit-ups around his suburban 1950’s apartment, as we carefully avoid the hammock, vintage record player and giant pot plants.

Pella, a research assistant at Stockholm University, is part of the Hoffice movement, which invites workers — freelancers, entrepreneurs, or full-time employees who can do their jobs remotely — to work at each other’s homes to boost productivity and tackle social isolation.

Those attending pop-up Hoffice events are typically asked to work in silence in 45 minute blocks

Those attending pop-up Hoffice events advertised on Facebook are typically asked to work silently in 45 minute blocks, before being encouraged to take short breaks together to exercise, meditate or simply chat over a coffee. In addition, each participant shares daily objectives with the rest of the group upon arrival, and is invited to report back on whether or not they have achieved them at the end of the day. The events are free.

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