What will the workplace look like after COVID-19?

What will the workplace look like after COVID-19?

While we await the all clear to emerge from isolation enforced through the global spread of the covid19 coronavirus, it is important to recognise that the idea of a ‘normal’ workplace may never be the same again. The big question is, will there be a new ‘normal’ or will the workplace landscape become something totally different, totally unexpected and totally human centric? It’s important to understand that the psychological effects alone of isolation and separation from colleagues, friends and associates will have a profound impact on people’s values and thoughts going forward.

The global crisis has forced many companies across the world to rapidly restructure and change their approach to their ways of working and the technologies they use to stay in touch, interact and share outputs. In particular, this is a time for critical reassessment and understanding for those who have been used to a so called traditional working environment with a rigid one to one desk policy based around a non-flexible working operation.

We are all products of our environments and the initial experience of staff will be broadly set by their current office conditions, those with good existing office facilities will miss the functionality and interaction with colleagues, while those whose work space doesn’t adequately support the day to day functions, will be happier to work from home. This wont of course be true for everyone and is dependent on a host of factors all of which could alter should the time frame around the situation become extended.

There is undoubtedly going to be a re-evaluation of the work environment and a big influence on the requirements will be the collective experiences centred around working in isolation and in the home office… but what will the main catalysts of change be and what could that look like?

The three areas for consideration at this time will be those currently being experienced daily by the workforce. The first being the frustrations experienced through not being in the workplace, secondly the benefits, both actual and perceived through working in isolation in the home and the third aspect will be in identifying which elements can be translated successfully into facilities within the workplace post isolation.

The frustrations will be, 

A sense of ‘always on’, being available and contactable at all times.

Distractions

Poor technology

Difficult IT support

Physical issues. (Through working at non office, non-ergonomic furniture).

A sense of loss of guidance through physical separation with mentors, supportive managers and colleagues.

A sense of missing the full business picture and diminished feeling of belonging.

The benefits from this enforced period of homeworking will be (for some not all).

Ability to better focus/less distractions

Higher level of concentration and therefore more productive. (which could also stem from the physical distance from the scourge of micro managers)

Better technology

Personal control over light levels and temperature

Refreshment on demand

Financial savings with the lack of commute

Better time management due to no commute.

And overall a perceived enhanced work/life balance

What does this mean going forward after this period of isolation?

There will inevitably be a rethink of what makes up a successful and efficient working environment. Real estate directors and facility managers will be looking at the portfolio and identifying where changes can be made to streamline and ’sweat the assets’. Including undertaking detailed analysis of the current and future modus-operandi, size and type of space. It’s been known for a long time that on average, occupancy levels are around about 60% yet most businesses still adopt space based around a 100% attendance; this will change.

The biggest change will be to the time required to work in the office. Those businesses who have found that the bulk of general operations could occur without face to face interactions may well radically re-evaluate the space requirement and facility types that the new agile workforce demand. The new work world will see a realignment from the office being the main place of work to an agile arrangement with the office becoming less a place for focus work but more a free range, flexible environment for face to face interactions, socialising and entertaining, all within a much reduced but highly efficient footprint.

There will be a desire for choice, control and community. One of the biggest factors that comes out of this current situation will be the understanding that humans are gregarious and need to interact with others, but not necessarily all the time. This will have a profound affect on the co-working sector, which will initially struggle to recapture its level of take up after the realisation that it is cheaper and very possible to undertake work from home. The traditional office will become much more experiential with a need to reinforce brand, values and connectivity through creation of activity-based solutions and an ability to adapt and change at a moment’s notice in what is an uncertain future.

The immediate return post isolation.

There will inevitably be a period of mistrust and anxiety once the immediate all clear and a possible return to the workplace is sanctioned. Ignoring the difficulties in a commute that will probably still require a level of social distancing, mask wearing and subconscious breath holding, the workforce will be reluctant to sit shoulder to shoulder on the bench desking that has become the basic staple of the office. Equally the idea of squeezing into an airless shoe box of a meeting room with three other equally concerned individuals will fill everyone with horror.

There will be a transitional period where furniture solutions will be explored in an attempt to create low cost, reusable and flexible interim measures. However, there is a danger that the concern with future contamination leads to the re adoption of the individual high sided work cubicle which would be completely the wrong solution when the whole purpose of returning to the workplace is the desire and need for interaction and collaboration. Perhaps a redesigned funky, low level skinny version of the 1970 work cells may be an option.

The immediate solution will have to look at the numbers who are required to attend the office at any one time. If this is for instance set at 60% of the workforce then a physical distance can be more easily maintained across the formal work areas with space being physically more open between settings. The difficulty comes in adequately positioning circulation space away from work areas and soft working lounges, where one of the inherent features is to force staff together to interact and collaborate. There are many furniture items that have raised sides and backs for privacy that may well be a good option at this time, as would mobile acoustic screens, all of which would be suitable for use in a post Covid-19 office space where distance is no longer an issue.

The workplace may well evolve from the large all-encompassing so called, trophy workplace to a series of smaller satellite spaces strategically located close to centres of educational or employee hot spots. With the proof that work tasks can be successfully fulfilled away from a large, expensive glass corporate cathedral, organisations will be more open to the idea of a network of interlinked drop-in centres. This will better suit the demand from staff who will want to have more control over when they work and where they work. The flexibility around work times is a topic that will grow as the workforce ages. There will be an increased requirement from the older workers who will want to balance work and family commitments with an emphasis on such things as picking up grandchildren from school.

As a consequence of the experience of the pandemic and a refocusing on health and wellbeing, staff will want more control over their work hours as wellness becomes more of a priority. Set times for work will become less of the norm as the emphasis shifts from working set hours to getting the work done.

At the other end of the spectrum generation Z is entering the workplace. This generation has a high-tech and hyper-connected background and they are bringing a new set of behaviours, expectations, and preferences into the workplace.

Will there be a new normal?

There will definitely be a seismic shift in employees’ expectations and priorities in what is a suitable working environment and acceptable work / life balance. Equally, employers will look to drastically adjust their property portfolios to be more efficient more flexible and more on brand. The change won’t happen over night, but the desire will be there and that can only but be a good thing for everyone. Stay positive, stay safe but for now, stay away.

#Covid-19 #coronavirus #homeworking #workplacereset #wellbeing #newnormal