International. "We have to start with why we come to the office. Working from home and in virtual meetings has limitations. We are creative and social people, and the workplace helps us connect, collaborate and be creative. At the same time, companies need people to come together to shape the culture, the way things are done. Without that, organizations will lose their competitive advantage over time," says James Ludwig, steelcase's vice president of global design and engineering.
Ludwig adds that "of course, the most important thing is the health and safety of our people. But if we think beyond the now and the next, we can move from virus-centric solutions to human-centric solutions."
The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures applied around the world have challenged the very concept of the workplace. Many organizations have attempted to shift to a 100% remote workforce to keep operations through this open crisis. Social distancing has driven remote work trends, so with falling profits and the recession looming, many businesses are reconsidering their need for a physical workplace. The past six months have been a period of massive reflection in many ways, but for the office it seems to be a fundamentally existential crisis.
So what is the true meaning of a physical office in this socially distanced and digitally connected era?
"I like to think of it in four "P": purpose, potential, perspective and possibility. All organizations that are high performers don't just talk about a purpose, they integrate it into their office every day. One thing I think is really important when considering why we're coming back to the office is the notion of harnessing our humanity in a technology-driven world," says Todd Heiser, co-managing director of Gensler.
"I love to say that physical spaces act like real-life social networks. I think the notion of purpose, potential, perspective, and possibility will be the reason we go back to the office and use the workplace as a tool, just like we use our iPhone, video conferencing, or a shared workspace. These are all tools in our true working toolbox."
The physical workplace as a tool, coupled with remote working and working together with technology, sounds like an acceleration of the flexible working trends we had been seeing before COVID. Flexible working gives employees the option to work from where it suits them best on a given day and promises employers cost savings by reducing the size of their physical office.
Flexible working offers the best of both worlds, physical and remote, through a combination of physical hotdesking and virtual collaboration tools. Many would welcome an acceleration of this pre-COVID trend, but it does not solve the problems of our current virus-centric environment.
"I'm talking to my clients about not delaying in this current phase, but really thinking about the future. Everything in the next 12 to 18 months (before the vaccine) will take us to a new place. We will see a number of spaces in the office to support health and wellness, and it is necessary to merge the physical and virtual worlds to retain the part of the office that unites us with a shared purpose," Heiser continues.
"We are focused on defining the future and creating a workplace that is truly more resilient. We know that while this was an exceptional time, all of these experiences allow us to be better prepared to create spaces that are more resilient and support the whole human being. With that in mind, I'm excited about what the future brings and that's why the world needs design."
While the development of an effective vaccine is only the beginning of the vaccination process, the world will eventually be vaccinated, starting with residents of the most developed economies. And as each region gains immunity, we will return to "normal," but the magnitude of the crisis we have gone through and the impact of mass reflection on business, politics, and society will lead us into a new post-COVID era. This period of our future history will be defined by improvements in healthcare and public health awareness, but also as a period of increased reliance on technology that intensified during the crisis to keep things running.
Crises create opportunities and for the workplace, this extended period, where remote work tools have intensified, creates an opportunity to redesign for a new technology-rich post-COVID era.
Source: memoori.
