This month's newsletter will include recent insights around the future of the office, hybrid work, and employee retention. We hope this content is helpful as you navigate your return to office plans and bring hybrid work to life.
This month's newsletter will include recent insights around the future of the office, hybrid work, and employee retention. We hope this content is helpful as you navigate your return to office plans and bring hybrid work to life.
This month's articles will look at the key data points from recent studies around the future of the office, hybrid work, and sustainable workplaces.
It's no secret that there has been a major shift in work dynamics in the last two years directly influenced by the global pandemic. The power of when and where work gets done has shifted from the employer to the employee as workers have been able to have more control over where they live and operate independently from the office. Because of these changes, employees want flexibility and understanding from their employers as they begin to reevaluate their careers.
The redesign of the office space must also provide this flexibility where there are less individual "sole-owner" spaces and more open spaces designed for collaboration and interaction at the food market place or in team rooms, for example. Finally, in order to attract talent, today’s and future workforce desires the flexibility to work in both environments and enable a balanced work, home, family and social life–not to mention the benefits of reducing the stress of everyday commuting and impacts to the environment.
The lens needs to be more firmly on "where do people do specific tasks more effectively". Look at productivity, efficiency and human metrics to determine which tasks are typically carried out better where (by individuals, teams and departments). Collaboration, celebration and community are three strong use cases for the office. The power of casual collision cannot be underestimated. Forcing people into using the office, like forcing them to use PowerPoint for everything they do, is futile. They will quickly realize it is not always fit for purpose and in some instances can hamper their deliverables.
The 30 minutes experiencing a fabulous on-site food service may not be enough to overcome a day-long struggle against uncomfortable temperatures; eye strain from glare; headaches caused by poor air quality; or reduced productivity due to noisy spaces. Address the uncomfortable spaces. Additionally, an experience of belonging and being heard is priceless. A shared sense of purpose gets and keeps people together – even in a pandemic. Finally, perennial changes in technology, society, and climate require a new level of resilience to be designed into every investment. Put occupant experience, purpose, and flexibility first to continually earn employees back to the collaborative spaces we used to call offices.
To make the office a truly meaningful space for employees, it is crucial to have the spatial intelligence in place to measure space use along with employee behavior, and use this data to make predictions in real-time, so that the office can be constantly adapted to match evolving employee needs and expectations. This will define success for workplaces today and beyond.
As we return to the office, it will be important to have your cleaning, air quality and sanitization procedures in place to ensure employee health & safety. This article shares important information on how COVID strains are evolving and how our cleaning procedures should evolve to ensure better health outcomes in our buildings and offices.
