SO WHAT DOES A POST COVID WORKPLACE LOOK LIKE?

The studio has been fully open since 3rd August and whilst everyone is working in a COVID secure environment, the amount of enquiries coming in from businesses is promising to say the least. Trying to understand what they should be looking at next, and why, what should their property strategies be is the big question. In the context of the last six months how effective has the world’s biggest experiment of remote working, the planet has ever seen actually been?. So we see the development of the agile manifesto.

We might be about to enter a golden age for the office. The new golden age will be informed by a new role for the office, more focussed on culture and togetherness. The extent to which home-working remains popular long after the pandemic has passed will depend on a bargain between companies and workers. But it will also depend on whether companies embrace or reject the controversial theory that working from an office might actually impede productivity. Of course, the issue of productivity is something of a two-edged sword and even if it weren’t there are indications that working from home doesn’t necessarily make people more productive in the longer term either. There are some signs that people are getting worn out, although it’s important to acknowledge that the way we are living right now is far from normal so we should be wary of making forecasts based solely on current experiences.

So why come to the office at all? With workforces distributed by time and location, accessing buildings only periodically, the role of buildings will shift dramatically. If work can take place anywhere, why come to the office?  But offices are still important because they can provide great places for interaction and collaboration, knowledge transfer and communication - vital to most people and organisations to function effectively. It’s just that offices are no longer the only, or even the best places for every kind of work we need to do, and it makes sense that people can now choose other workplaces that work better.

The linear thinking and structured way of working in a strict 9 to 5 model has been severely disrupted over the last six months. It’s not about a vast sea of open plan working. It’s about providing an appropriate group of work settings that support the pertinent activities within that workplace. In other words…who are we designing for and what should we be designing? This is about responding to personality profiling – supporting both the extravert and the introvert making meaningful connections to others. Employee productivity is no longer based on hours spent staring at a computer screen — but the amount of time workers are doing their best thinking alone and in collaboration with colleagues. Well-designed spaces, smart time management, along with happiness and motivation all interplay to help employees perform their best on the job.

For more information, contact us on info@squaredot.co.uk or call the studio on 01789 201 000. We’re looking forward to hearing from you and sharing our research with you.