Just because it worked, doesn’t mean its optimal

So many surveys. So many workplace prophets. Still so much uncertainty…

Call me an old cynic but everywhere I turn there’s a continuous stream of webinars extolling the virtues of stripping out desks from the workplace in favour of turning empty space into a huge greenhouse or living wall with lounge chairs and on tap mocha-chocca frappalatte with extra cream and caramel toppers. As if turning an office into some odd mutation between Kew gardens and Costa coffee (other coffee brands are available) is automatically going to entice the workforce back.

These, lets face it, fairly lame solutions are backed up with dramatic, stop the press statistics, claiming that productivity will rise by ‘X’ and staff attrition reduce by ‘Y’. Oh yes, and with regard to flexible working,  there is a ‘consensus of opinion’ large enough to support a massive shift in working procedures now and forevermore. And yet, a deeper interrogation of the facts proves that its not quite as cut and dried as these office evangelists would have us believe.

While a flexible mode of working aligned with so called, hybrid workplaces, appears to be the current choice of the majority, this model is still at an embryonic stage. There is no evidence to prove that this flexibility and adoption of hybrid working schemes is the answer. It is a solution to a health crisis that occurred rapidly and has long outstayed its welcome. We just don’t know yet whether we’ve stumbled across the snake oil elixir for workplace design or if it is just yet another option to include alongside the dozen or so long-established work models that are still utilized to this day.

It’s true, that through necessity, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote working and its proved to many sceptics that most functions can be undertaken successfully away from the rigid micro-managed, position 12, row 8, floor 7, assigned workstation, of a stale regimented workplace. It is however, too soon to understand the effects of what working in this way will be longer-term.

Early indications are that mental wellbeing is being impacted and levels of anxiety are at record levels along with increased stress from isolation. While employees are saving time and money with a reduced level of commute; they are also suffering from so called, Zoom Fatigue and unwanted intrusions into their private lives via the ‘peeping tom’ of a camera located at the top of the laptop. Or in my case oddly at the bottom; which always makes me look tired and jowly and shows everyone the state of my ceiling.

We must recognise that flexible working may not be the best solution for all and that emotional support beyond the workplace will increasingly become important.

What we do know

• Employees have missed interacting with their colleagues
• Business owners are looking to reduce rentable space based upon lower levels of attendance… although adoption of hybrid working arrangements doesn’t necessarily mean that less space is required.
• There is greater focus than ever before on sustainability and wellbeing, in particular, air quality, air flows and access to outside space. Wellness has always been spoken about and appears on websites as a core business value, but now it’s all being taken so much more seriously and is front and centre on all new project briefs.

As for that ‘consensus of opinion’, currently all the evidence is pointing towards employees preferring a 2 or 3 day return to the workplace during the middle of the work week, (you’ve no doubt heard the acronym and I shan’t be repeating it here). This is at odds with the owners and c suite occupiers where the exact same surveys show that employers would prefer staff to have a longer moment in the office.

And it doesn’t end there. There is another difference of opinion when you question various age groups. Understandably, the new generation in the work arena want to be seen to be doing to enable them to further their careers; learn from their peers and be mentored by their managers. Whilst those managers who are happy in their workplace standings are very comfortably sat at home, a short hop away from the golf course (far be it from me to cast aspersions). Equally the outcomes of these surveys change season by season, industry by industry.

What seems to be lacking in all of these reports is the acknowledgement that the existing experience and current state of an individual’s workplace will influence their individual responses. If your current workplace is tired, lacks good technology and environments to support your activities; why would you want to return? I’m sure that if the workspace was altered to include facilities and experiences beyond those available elsewhere then staff would look more favorably on a more regular attendance.

It is important to acknowledge that through this period of working in isolation and an increased dependence on technology, we have had to quickly adopt new methods of connection, information sharing and production. Just because it works doesn’t mean its the optimal solution.

This is never more true than the way we have all had to amend our methods of meeting. Yes, the technology works and allows us to have what used to be called video conferences from the luxury of the sofa or kitchen table via laptop or phone. However, these events are stilted and awkward and way too frequent. Yes, they’re fine for sharing information but there is more to most meetings than simply sharing content. Face to face meetings are the most effective way to communicate because with technology enabled meetings, there is the loss of visual cues that reveal such responses as understanding, enthusiasm and commitment. Not being able to see and read these subtle non-verbal cues from faces and body movements limits the effectiveness of a virtual meeting. This leads to what experts refer to as a decrease in perceived accountability, responsibility, and honesty. It has been identified that people need to meet face to face to truly trust what they are being shown and this trust or emotional capital is built up only through face-to-face meetings.

The workplace is and always has been in a state of evolution and experimentation.

This is a unique opportunity to evaluate the workplace as there has never been such a focus on the way we work and the environments we work in. More progressive businesses are currently taking a more holistic approach, looking beyond what has constituted the workspace for decades based around the understanding that one solution does not fit all.

Still a culture of wait and see.

There appears to be reluctance within some organisations to begin the process of investigating the wants, needs and desires of their staff and exploring what the business will require for the future. There is still very much a culture of wait and see, which, to a degree, is understandable with the unpredictable situation regarding potential restrictions but a prolonged delay may well become an issue for the undecided in the not-too-distant future. Staff attraction and retention being top of this list of risks.

To give your organization the best opportunity for success and before jumping headlong into the reconfiguring of the workplace, it is crucial that a business consider five basic questions that will inform its future direction. The responses to these questions will form the foundation for the future workplace.

Answers to the most basic 5 questions will give important direction.

Purpose – What is the purpose of the workspace and what contribution does it make to the business?

Culture – What are its values and personality and do you wish to preserve or change it?

Benefits – Why do the staff and clients want to go there?

Ambition – What does the business want to achieve?

Measurement – What does success look like?