It’s easy to assume that the home-working practices adopted during the quarantine or lockdown periods are a long-term panacea for your business. Of course, homeworking does have its advantages in flexibility for employees, but it removes some of the key business drivers that can only be leveraged when people are in the same physical location:
Productivity: employees can avoid the many potential distractions at home, focus on their work and get more done in their day.
Collaboration: Workers who are physically able to see and talk to each other will find it easier to streamline their communications and collectively innovate to develop new ideas.
Socialization: Bringing them back to the office keeps them engaged and connected with their own team and with your wider workforce.
Coordination: Office-based work helps teams stay functional, and aligned with the work of others.
Health and wellbeing: You can not only safeguard employees’ physical health but also improve their mental and emotional health by giving them the confidence that they can return to work safely.
Rethinking your office purpose
Less capacity but more collaboration and giving certainty.
Offices will increasingly become places primarily for meeting and collaborating with team members. By encouraging flexible working practices you can ensure employees have access to the workspace they need, for the days they need it - meaning you can optimize your office space to suit the capacity of a flexible workforce. When employees do need to come to the office for their workday, give them certainty about the space they have and who is also in the office for the day through smart space booking tools.