Collectively our society is facing challenges on multiple fronts including social, political, economic, environmental and, with COVID-19, health and loss or comprise of our work routines. Everyone has made sacrifices to make work-from-home as effective as possible, but at what cost to holistic workplace synergies and culture? For creative and collaborative fields, much is at stake. The methods, processes and results of our work—and that of many other endeavors—are founded in collective, in-person interaction and sharing. With demand for collaborative office and alternative meeting spaces on the rise in all building types before the pandemic, we are not alone. Work-from-home isolation, despite robust virtual conferencing and other sharing platforms, has a true impact on our psyches and, subsequently, our creative process and ability to innovate. One of our clients surveyed all leaseholders of their office properties and found the majority of office workers want to come back to the workplace. People overwhelmingly prefer to work in an office, and the social aspect of physically being together will ultimately drive us back into shared spaces.
Transition Time
Many people are already accustomed to working remotely, but for others an essential aspect of the holistic workplace involves collaborating in person or meeting one-on-one to give and get feedback. While physical proximity will be an issue for the foreseeable future, as will masks as an effective tool for not passing the virus on to others, there are smart ways to come together. Our team is having small design sessions with distancing and masks required. We are also envisioning short, perhaps one-hour meetings in the office, and then folks heading out again. People with children at home because of school and daycare closures and those with preexisting conditions can continue to work from home for now. A two-week quarantine will follow any travel. These policies and others for returning to the office are geared to do more than protect staff from the virus—they provide peace of mind by communicating that staff health and the collective health of our firm are vital. No blanket transition strategy works for everyone. Law firms operate differently than startup tech companies. Thus how people work will be a huge factor in who goes back to work first. The process is a lot like testing the water to see if it’s safe—one step at a time