The future of the office

In the new normal that has emerged, it would make immense sense for smart managers to tap into the mix of hybrid working situations and ensure the best for the organisation as well as the employees.

- DR PENNY PULLAN

Due to the sudden disruption of lockdown in spring 2020, workers who were able to work from home did so, often for months. Now that lockdown restrictions are eased, people are beginning to wonder about the future. What will the office look like? How will the physical office and the dispersed, virtual office, whatever that may be, mesh together? Will we return to how things were? Perhaps it might be possible to move to something better, for our organisations, our people, and our world.

Perhaps the first thing is to acknowledge just how much we have achieved and how far things have shifted in just a few short months. Think back to December 2019. Imagine that your CEO had put in a request that the company move entirely to virtual working. No doubt, this huge programme of change would have taken months, if not years, of planning and implementation. Instead, it happened in days. Despite this disruption, employees have achieved remarkable things, working in often sub-optimal conditions. This unexpected and, frankly, unwanted experiment in working remotely has proved that it is possible to do much without being in the physical office. Perhaps this is the silver lining of the COVID pandemic: the emergence of a whole new way of working? People can see that it is not necessary to commute to an office each day, with the accompanying detrimental effects on our climate and on the work-life balance of individuals. Organisations can see the possibility of reducing their office space, potentially releasing cash for alternative uses.