The future of the workplace

With the announcement that those who can should return to work, and a phased return to work for others, what does it mean for the future of the workplace.? It may not have seemed possible but the shift to home working happened dramatically and rapidly. One client told me that all employees at the national out-sourcing organisation they worked with only had desktops PCs. Within just a week, their thousands of employees all had laptops to enable home working. The transition on such a huge scale to home working went more smoothly than we could ever have imagined. In a Personnel Today study, only 9% said their employer has handled rolling out remote working poorly. While some may have been reluctant, it was a show of what could be done when needs must.

Current working conditions are a stark contrast from the typical vast, open-plan offices, a concept made popular by early 20th-century architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who believed the design would democratise the workplace by tearing down walls both literally and socially. Initially spacious in design, offices became more and more dense with workers, and a love/hate relationship evolved from those who worked in them. Some enjoy the social and collaborative feel. Others find the distractions and interruptions get in the way of productivity.

So, what will a post-Covid workplace look like? It’s inevitable that a rethink will be needed about working spaces. Where once it was beanbags and a beer fridge that attracted people to an organisation, it will now surely be a good ventilation system and personal space. Technology will support the development of safe working spaces, with non-touch offices being enabled by automatic doors and lighting. Thermal imaging apps are being explored for their use in monitoring people’s movements. Culturally, people may find some suggestions intrusive, others less so. South Korea have managed the spread of Covid-19 by compulsory monitoring of people’s movements. Those interviewed there agree that any loss of privacy is compensated for by the safety of their health.

It’s not just the working spaces themselves that will need rethinking. What of the other office spaces? Lifts, stairways, corridors, toilets, kitchens… consideration will have to be given to the entire office space. Many will be getting the builders in.

So, when we’ve adapted to home working so successfully, is the cost (and the risk) worth it to reinstate office working? In recent research by Personnel Today, sixty-eight per cent of people surveyed feel they are either more productive or equally productive from home (and this in spite of childcare and home-schooling issues).

In Canada, where the return to work has started, Silvia Montefiore, Canadian managing partner for business enablement and operations at KPMG Canada explained, “This return has been staggered and followed a tight regimen. Employees returned to buildings by floor and were given schedules with varying start and end times, in addition to spending part of the work week working from home.” Sun Life Canada are returning cautiously and with an individual approach. “When the time is right for us to open our offices, in addition to clear safety measures and a gradual approach, we’ve committed to our employees that it will be optional and informed by their individual needs.”

Here in the UK, Barclays Bank's chief executive Jes Staley has said that having thousands of workers in big expensive city offices "may be a thing of the past" as the home-working lockdown era proves many can do their jobs perfectly well at home. He predicts moving more employees into branches, which could signal a reverse in the trend for closing those facilities for customers.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has already said employees will not return to offices until June at the earliest, and even then, will do so in a staggered way. He also suggested the pandemic creates “an opportunity to reimagine how we work,” though Google has not announced details on what this entails.

Tugce Bulut a founder of Streetbees, a tech company said, “I don’t think we’ll ever resume full-time office work.… Most meetings could be done remotely or in coffee shops. We’re looking for a smaller office.”

One of the biggest challenges is that different scenarios will suit different people. Some will welcome the return to a place of work that doesn’t double up as their bedroom. A place where the only distractions are from other people working, not CBeebies on the television. Where the internet works and meetings aren’t disrupted by onscreen frozen faces. Many will enjoy getting back into their work clothes, wearing proper shoes to work rather than slipper socks.

Others are likely to be anxious. A recent survey from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reported that 39 per cent of workers are concerned about not being able to socially distance from colleagues when back at work. And it’s not just about the working spaces. There is the issue of how people get to them. Halfords’ share price has seen a spike due to an increase in bike sales. People are being asked to avoid using public transport and many are nervous to do so. Rail companies were already under fire for commuter routes with lack of seats, delays and cancellations. How much worse when numbers on trains are limited?

Things will be different. But how can organisations ensure they make the right changes? Tugce Bulut of Streetbees also says, “It’s important for the culture we don’t give up [the office] entirely.” It’s an interesting consideration. We’re all familiar with the ‘water cooler chat’, the informal and incidental conversations that happen between employees during the day that have such an influence on culture. They just don’t happen in the same way in a Zoom meeting. What will change in organisations’ cultures and how can leaders preserve a good culture when people don’t physically meet up? Or maybe for some there might be an opportunity to turn around a bad culture by changing the way they do things.

Whatever the workplace looks like, leaders have a valuable opportunity to review their organisations, to gain from the insight this experience has given them. Things will be different and there’s an opportunity for them be different in a better way for both businesses and the individuals who work in them. The ability to respond swiftly and effectively, achieved through organisational agility, will be the differential between those who re-establish themselves to thrive and survive, and those who suffer from this experience.