Designers are inherent problem-solvers. We constantly seek to create and build the most resilient environments for clients, helping business become healthier, more productive and providing office culture experiences that differentiate them from competitors. We know that one-size doesn’t fit all, and that has only become more evident as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Our collective remote work experience has been an experiment for all of us, providing insight into what we need to work most effectively. What have we learned? Well, countless companies and entire industries, have learned that their employees, if afforded optimal conditions, can better manage their “focus work” at home, which is typically around 50 percent of most people’s time. While individual productivity is a key concern, the human need to be together is as essential as ever for fortifying workplace community, social relationships, and a company’s mission and culture. Fortunately, virtual collaboration tools have enriched team building amongst scattered staff and, to some extent, mitigated the lack of in-person contact.
All the above raises a lot of questions about what the workplace could and should look like in 2020, 2021 and beyond. Truly impactful and effective workplaces promote connections among all staff, whether they are exchanging ideas at a meeting room whiteboard, chatting at the coffee machine or video calling a colleague working remotely. There will be new approaches, and practices for these organizations seeking out more meaning and purpose to face-to-face encounters and employees looking purely for human connection and group activity. The workplace should place greater value on “We Space,” which will allow for face-to-face meetings in workplace café lounges, social hubs and so forth.
Today, as we evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on our work environments, we need to be thinking about how work contributes to the greater company mission every day and how we obtain the energy that fuels our work. Just like this virus that we cannot see, culture is omnipresent. In the future, the physical workplace will become a place for a more curated culture, while maintaining our new virtual company culture that has developed considerably since lockdown began. New groups of leaders are emerging. Agile and resilient employees are succeeding through staying focused, creative and innovative. They are helping to share their headspace with others in their virtual circles and benefitting the culture of the digital workplace.
Given these substantial cultural and behavioral shifts over the last six months, designers must ask their clients some critical questions. What is the new, post-COVID-19 office, and what really matters most to employees today? In a future de-densified, post-COVID-19 world, does the traditional one-workstation-per-person ratio still make sense? Should we instead design physical places for meeting, collaborating, and socializing? To best reinforce a company’s mission, how can we give employees the tools and environments they need to be effective at home or in the office?