How companies plan making people come back to the office
With more than a year working from home, some companies have plans making their employees go back to the office.
When the pandemic hit us it wasn’t long until a lot of companies started sending many of their employees away to work from home in order to keep them from being sick and to limit the spread of the virus. Nobody thought it would take as long as it did for things to start getting back to normal. At least somewhat normal. Now, after almost 1.5 years, the pandemic is still ongoing; although the number of sick and dead is rapidly declining in those countries who started with mass vaccination. We’re not quite there yet, but that doesn’t mean that companies aren’t making plans of how everyone will return to their work place, and in some cases those plans are quite creative. In this article are examples of what some companies are doing in order for their employees to wanna get back to the office, how it might look like, and how we will work from now on.
It didn’t take long for public spaces to start changing when Covid-19 hit us. Shops started putting acrylic glass covers, social distancing signs could be seen everywhere, signs of the maximum number of people allowed inside premises, and restaurants had to decrease the number of tables and seats. Bars, cinemas and amusement parks were closed, and public events such as concerts were cancelled. People were sent to work from home. Fast forward to the present and some things are slowly starting to come back. It means that companies now want their employees to come back to the office as well, to some extent.
There are some various examples of how they are doing that. Some of them include changing the office design, while others extend beyond that and incorporate new work and lifestyle features to better adapt to the new normal we all find ourselves in now. Whatever the case, what these companies have in common is that they want to create more attractive and better adapted spaces and conditions for their employees to work in. Some recent surveys show that people still want to keep working from home (such as this one), up to around half the work week. Companies who are quick to adapt to that might have a competitive edge. Some of them have therefore started to change things accordingly. Following are some examples of how it can look like.
Freshly styled office spaces
Some companies are taking the refreshment approach for their offices. Brighter and more spacious as well as new colors and materials. They try to make them more trendy, comfortable and maybe a bit playful in order for their employees to feel more inclined at staying at the office. They also incorporate some new social distancing and safety features. It’s a refreshment of the old space. One such company is Autodesk. Their San Francisco offices have a lot of natural materials, colors and brightened up spaces with a bit of a funky, playful touch. There are different areas and rooms to work in to keep social distance and work flexible.
These offices might include some elements found in flexible offices and hybrid offices such as open spaces for team management and idea brainstorming workshops, but will still include a good portion of the typical office work places and meeting rooms. It’s an adaptation to the classic way of working but not something completely new regarding work and lifestyle. It is however a refreshing and positive approach and these offices seem to offer a very attractive work environment.
Flexible office spaces
These offices have a mix between enclosed personal spaces and open spaces. They might not be typically styled with cubicles or fixed office rooms. There might not be any determined places for individuals. Instead, individuals can book and use the spaces according to their needs. This means that the office is better suited for specific tasks and might increase productivity. For example, open lounge style spaces might help in relaxing brainstorming discussions; private booths will aid in phone calls and digital meetings, or focused work sessions; and conference rooms will be needed for larger meetings or courses.
A flexible office will be styled similar to a hybrid office with a variation in elements such as a few meeting rooms, a couple of enclosed booths, open office spaces, tables, benches and relaxing areas according to the employees needs. It’s about working freely in a flexible way.
A flexible office could easily be restyled and changed according to the present needs. Walls might be movable and furniture might be switched and moved around. It needs to be changeable in order to accomodate a varying size of teams or a change in business direction. It’s more dynamic and provides a lot of freedom for the employees and how they will work. Because of this flexibility they will probably generally become smaller than the classic offices. With more people working flexible there will be less need of fixed, physical space.
These type of offices have for example been quite typical for consultant agencies where some of the workers might be sitting at the customers location time to time and won’t require a fixed office or desk place. When they come back to their own office they can choose any free place that suits them. It might also mean it will be easier to keep social distance, which is another important factor keeping employees from working in the office during the pandemic. If they don’t feel safe they don’t wanna be there.
Hybrid offices
This office type will likely get more and more common. A hybrid office space is meant for those who will work partially from home but still need a physical location to work in away from home time to time. People will still need a place to physically meet, discuss and inspire each other or just maybe to get out of the house for a change of environment. At the moment, many classic offices are converted to hybrid offices where there will be less of actual office work spaces. Instead of the typical office rooms and cubicles, there will be more activity based areas for team work meetings and workshops. It will be less of general status meetings and more about hanging out, discussing ideas or just focus on the individual work. Some areas will be calm and quiet for the latter, solely for programming, calculating, drawing and such focused work. Areas will be equipped with new technology for digital and hybrid meetings and conversations. There might even be outdoor office spaces such as this office in Sweden at company Castellum.
A hybrid office will look different than what we’re used to. Except outdoor spaces it might remind us more about our homes. It might be a welcoming destination rather than just a grey desk space. Apart from the freshly styled and flexible types of offices it will go one step further. A hybrid office will fuse together our homes with the professional work location in order to fully adapt to the new normal.
This office type is striving to be more inviting and to have an almost at home feeling, while still being a professional space with lots of tech. It might be more relaxing and infuse elements such as home interior decoration and lots of green. It might also incorporate elements from other businesses such as pubs, restaurants or industrial spaces.
This might be the real future of office spaces. It will not just be slightly changed in order to follow the changing need short term. It’s a long term solution that takes care of the employees and make them productive and loyal in the long run. A hybrid office will be comfortable, homey and welcoming, smart and modular. It will have sustainable green tech, be stylish and cultural, have solutions for remote work while still fit all needs of the employees throughout the day.
These changes in the way we work that we’re now seeing have been sped up by the pandemic. The thing is, these changes were already happening before. It’s just going a lot faster now. We basically jumped 5–10 years ahead in an instant. Companies that will stay in the old ways of working and old office styles will not be as competitive. If they don’t adapt, and that fast, they might lose both employees and business opportunities.
There will always be a need for meetings and collaborations, but with tech such as business chat video management programs (like Microsoft Teams), automation, VR and a culture with social distancing our meetings will look different. We will still need face-to-face connections because it’s in our nature. We collaborate and build connections better that way. It’s how we are built. However, digital communication can go a long way. Companies must ensure that their workplace include all the necessary tech for it, as well as making sure that the work environment is safe and healthy.
The office will become more and more like an experience instead of just a place to go work in. The work post-Covid will become more like a lifestyle. Our time at home and at work will be more fused together and more flexible. The pandemic has changed some of our cultural and traditional ways, maybe forever. This could be a great opportunity to get a grip on and transform the way we work for the better. The future is happening fast and we’re all in for a ride. The future is here, the future is hybrid.
What’s your opinion about it? If you‘ve been working from home the last year and would start going back to the office, how would you like it to be?
About the author: Marcus Segerros is a Designer, Engineer, Freelance Writer, Content Creator and Business owner with a double BS and University Diploma Degree in Design and Tech. Travelling as often as he can, he has visited a numerous number of places and shares all kinds of tips in his articles from his experiences.
