What do you miss about your office?
Think about that for a moment as you shuffle around your house, looking for “the best spot” to take care of the next list of tasks or umpteenth video call – heading for hour 28.53 of your (usual) 12-hour work day. . .
Is it “balance”?
Are you glued to your laptop in a way that makes the affair between Tito Mboweni and the South African Twitterati seem like a brief and fleeting one-night-stand?
Does your phone buzz at all times of the day and night as the planet’s appreciation for “personal time” made a run for the nearest exit in a haze of “everything is urgent” and “every call is important”?
Work / life balance is a thing, of course – and so is the space that we do it in.
Is it people?
The office clown, the sweetheart, the “group” you choose to hang out with . . . the balcony chats, the pranks, the souls that suffered, triumphed, laughed, cried – shared and sacrificed with you over the months and years.
How much do you miss the casual camaraderie, the gossip and mayhem that provide such welcome (and valid) distraction to the chaos and mayhem of “home life”?
According to a survey by FlexJobs, 49% of workers say they miss their colleagues. . . which is substantial enough for companies to make sure that the near 50% who DO LIKE their fellow inmates find the space available to them optimised for even greater collaboration.
Is it Variety that adds spice to your work life?
“The current monotony of working from home is driving me crazy,” complains a staff writer at interaction.uk.com. “Everything I do involves sitting in front of my laptop. Meetings, collaboration, social catchups, document reviewing, even Friday bar night is now at the Zoom Arms.
There is no let up. In the office we have a variety of settings: workstations; quiet focus areas; meeting rooms; project work areas; video conference space; kitchen; breakout; informal meeting area; library; wellness room. There’s space to move around.”
The Yellow Brick Road
Sooner or later, people will be returning to their office space in some shape or form and that space will need to hit the mark . . . it will need to feel like a home away from home that inspires, involves and engages company teams.
Says Rick Thomas, writing for Colliers.com; “In a recent global ‘Work-from-Home’ Experience survey conducted by Colliers International, 82% of respondents say that they wish to WFH at least one day a week, but no one wishes to WFH for more than 3 days a week.
While the data shows that productivity has maintained at reasonable levels, more respondents also stated that they missed being able to collaborate with colleagues in the office.”
It’s human nature.
Eventually we want to reach out, connect and create, together.
However – that “want” will quickly disappear if our office space resembles a closed-off, inadequate mess of spatial ignorance and antiquated interior design philosophies.
To get the most out of our people we’re going to have to rethink and reimagine their working day – from start to finish and everything in between.
“The office must play a stronger role than ever in bringing people together, motivating them, providing a place for training and knowledge sharing, and offering the variety of spaces and functions that they need.”
– interaction.uk.com.
“Today’s offices with a wide range of work and social settings, and today’s working practices that offer more flexibility in terms of hours and locations, are perfectly designed to support individuals and their varying needs.”
Make it happen
It’s not a fairy tale and it doesn’t need a magic wand to make “the office” more appealing than ever.
All it needs is some imagination – and a whole lot of desire to make a positive change.