This is the second article in a two-part series by Lewis Silkin LLP exploring the trends emerging from the pandemic in relation to the future of the office.

Introduction - reimagining the office of the future

In the first article, we revisited the ideas we explored a year ago in an article written for the Future of Work Hub Reimaging the Office of the Future and identified different approaches being taken in the market and the challenges posed by the range post-pandemic approaches to the office. 

In this second article we consider the opportunities for organisations to overcome these challenges and the role the office has to play in meeting the shifting needs of the workforce in the context of the “Great Resignation”.

How can employers meet the challenges ahead?

Consider phased returns

In the first article in the series, we identified a number of challenges emerging from the differing approaches to the future of the office. Key to overcoming these challenges is not putting off the return to work - the longer employees remain away from the office, the more difficult reintegrating and setting new routines will become. Employers should be mindful of the anxieties triggered by a period of transition and would be wise to operate a slow, phased reintegration to office life.

Social fatigue

To avoid social fatigue, start by scheduling smaller group meet ups before organising group wide events and factor in time between events, to give employees space to recover. Dr Arroll suggests that employees schedule some downtime in the working day, to help rebuild social strength and stamina.

Incorporate benefits of working from home

Psychotherapist and founder of business consultancy Co-Thinking Company, Judith Palstow encourages employees to retain the benefits of working from home during lockdown and to “blend these with the positives of being in the office to create a more enhanced way of working”. For example, if employees have been exercising in the morning or during lunch time, employers should talk to them about how they might be able to incorporate an improved work/life balance into the return to work.

Invest in the hybrid workforce

Communication and collaboration tools

Organisations adopting a hybrid or remote-first model, will be tasked with creating an ecosystem of physical and virtual workspaces. As highlighted in our article about the pros and cons of hybrid working, communication and collaboration will be a particular challenge for the hybrid future office. This can be solved in part by technology; workstream, collaboration and project management tools, all of which can help employees communicate and collaborate on projects when they’re not together in the physical office. However, too many platforms could also risk of overwhelming workers and mean too few people become proficient at using them.

Trust

In order for the hybrid future office to truly be a success, remote employees must feel trusted and valued when working at a distance from colleagues. Organisations must not merely pay lip service when adopting a hybrid model and should put in place training for managers on how to manage and motivate hybrid teams, and to combat the risk of in-group and out-group dynamics developing between office and home based employees. The CIPD website has many useful resources on managing remote and hybrid working. Organisations like Grow Remote in Ireland provide training to help employers build a remote ready workforce.

Office design

The design of the physical office which greets staff as they return will undoubtedly be very important too. After the pressures imposed by the pandemic, lockdown-weary employees will be keen to work in office environments which enable them to achieve their potential and which promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing. 

Biophilic design

One option here is to implement back-to-nature elements of biophilic design into stagnant office environments. For instance, the relatively simple step of introducing office plants, such as aloe vera, snake plants and monkey plants, can improve air quality within the workplace, as these plants help absorb pollutants and restore the air’s water vapour levels. But, for employers really looking to embrace and invest in the benefits of biophilic design, other examples could include creating living walls, installing curved ponds and water features, incorporating ceiling windows which allow weather watching and ensuring all workspaces enjoy healthy levels of sunlight (which in turn boosts production of serotonin, the ‘happy’ hormone, and encourages circadian rhythms and healthy sleep patterns). As our colleague, Tom Heys, wrote last year, the purpose of biophilic design is to appreciate “the connection that humans have with our environment and thinking hard about how someone can interact with all forms of nature throughout their working day”, with tangible benefits to employers being greater productivity, decreased sickness absence and better engagement. As such, there could be multiple advantages in considering office design carefully in the future, and sanctuary-like features will undoubtedly make the office a more attractive space, especially for those who have embraced a closer relationship with nature during the pandemic. 

Flexible space

Other design ideas may involve investment in flexible space, as this is likely to help employers create the office they need for a hybrid workforce and revive office culture after two years of upheaval (albeit we acknowledge that the day-to-day reality of managing flexible space may be problematic for facilities teams). Indeed, as commentary from the BBC attests, what is likely to be in demand are more adaptable designs and communal areas intended to foster teamwork, creativity and a sense of connection lost during the pandemic, as well as areas designated for overdue mentoring, learning and training sessions. This could include furniture that can be moved and repurposed easily, or demountable partitions for moments of quiet-working and privacy. By creating spaces that are less structured and more creative, employers will hope to reimagine the office as a destination of choice and, in turn, overcome some of the challenges being faced in the new working world.

Attracting and retaining talent - what is needed from the future office?

The Great Resignation

In his ‘Eight drivers of change’ report, James Davies identifies eight emerging themes which are likely to concern employers adapting to the evolving world of work and individuals pursuing their careers in the changing landscape. In what is being dubbed the "Great Resignation”, it is harder than ever for employers to attract and retain talent.

Developing a sense of belonging

The pandemic has caused many to re-evaluate their lives, adding to already record high resignation rates in 2019. Continued remote working may further weaken people’s connection to their employer. This could be an opportunity for employers to use the purpose and design of the future office as a competitive advantage, but they must bear in mind that what might have worked in the past will not necessarily have the same effect on today’s post-pandemic workforce. Speaking on a recent Future of Work Hub podcast, generational expert Dr Eliza Filby warns that ‘gone are the days where you can just motivate people by salary or status’ and that millennial and moreover Gen Z employees are more likely to ask ‘Is this [role] fulfilling my destiny, my journey?  Is this in keeping with my brand?’.

Flexibility and autonomy

Accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, employers are increasingly offering alternative working models and policies that focus on employee wellbeing and flexibility. Undoubtedly, one catalyst of attrition will be failing to meet the growing demand for autonomy and flexibility at work. James Davies identifies flexibility as one of the emerging themes and proffers that ‘flexibility is a thread that runs through each of the drivers of change’.

In the summer of 2021, it was reported that nearly 40% of employees would consider quitting if forced to return to their offices full-time. Interestingly, Dr Filby suggests that we reframe discussions around hybrid working as a ‘conversation about autonomy and people’s use of their time’. She also warns against having a ‘hierarchy of needs’ in that employees with family responsibilities will be seen as having a valid need for flexible working, rather than those that may want to work flexibly to fulfil other responsibilities or simply, to invest in themselves.

Revisiting the four-day week?

Companies across the UK, Ireland, Spain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are participating in trials for a four-day working week (measuring whether employees can operate at 100% productivity, despite working 20% less hours and with no reduction in pay). Between 2015-2019 Iceland trialled a shorter working week and it was lauded an ‘overwhelming success’. The results of the study included sustained or increased productivity and a dramatic increase in employee wellbeing.  Since completion, almost 90% of Iceland’s workforce are now working shorter hours or have the right to shorten their hours. Employers may also wish to consider whether offering a four-day working week is another step in a more flexible direction, potentially positioning them as an employer of choice, particularly in competitive environments where attracting and retaining talent is key. Speaking on a recent podcast for the Future of Work Hub, Derek Newberry, Senior Director of co:collective’s Org + Culture Design practice, stressed the importance of organisations ‘in a very proactive and conscious way, to be constantly experimenting and tinkering with new ways of working…. in a way that’s really aligned with our purpose and values’.

Sustainability

While the pandemic detracted somewhat from the focus on global warming and the planet, there is no question that sustainability will play an important part of the design of the future office. It will also play a key part in attracting and retaining talent, especially as the proportion of millennial and gen z employees in the workforce grows. A study by LinkedIn found that companies whose core business strategy embraces sustainability and social purpose see improved talent attraction and performance and reduced turnover because employees are more engaged, motivated and have higher work satisfaction.

Whether remote or office working results in the least negative impact on the environment is still up for debate. While home working clearly reduces any damage that would otherwise be caused by commuting to the office, it certainly isn’t the holy grail in terms environmental impact and sustainability. For instance, our homes are often less energy efficient than purpose-built offices and the harm caused of video calls shouldn’t be underestimated.  Indeed, if we have an average of three hours of video calls a day over 260 workdays in a year, it is estimated that we would each create over 2 tonnes of CO2 per year on work video calls alone – and that it would take 100 trees to grow for one year to capture these emissions.  Some studies have also suggested that turning the camera off during a video call could cut the environmental impact of that call by up to 96 per cent, which is perhaps particularly noteworthy for employers who insist that all participants have their cameras on during remote meetings.

That being said, issues around sustainability in the workplace are not straightforward and almost every issue leads to a number of other considerations which need to be balanced against one another.  Workplace consultant, Neil Usher, considers this in his approach of looking at the workplace from a triple bottom line perspective: focussing on the needs of people, on the needs of the organisation and on the needs of the planet.  He comments that very often what works for one of those negatively impacts one or both the others. Getting the balance right between all three is no easy task, but it is a challenge all business leaders will need to engage with, if they haven’t already, as climate change reimposes itself as the primary issue affecting us all.

One of Neil Usher’s solutions for a sustainable future is for employers to offer less, but more purposeful, workspace (so that there is less wastage in terms of occupancy levels), and to consider the workplace in the context of the wider environment.  Usher believes that that “there’s a massive opportunity now, to consider the workplace in the broader, urban environment [and the amenities it provides], because, realistically, it all has to recover together.  [We] can’t just focus on the workplace, we have to consider it all” for the office of the future to be truly sustainable.  As such, we arguably need to take a more holistic and collective approach when rebuilding office life, looking at and considering our wider surroundings, whilst acknowledging that the balance of the triple bottom line with be different for each organisation.

Wellness

In our previous article on the future of the office, we referred to the negative impact that the prolonged period of remote working has had on employees’ mental health during the pandemic.  The stability of an office routine and defined boundaries between work and home life are undoubtedly some of the benefits of office working. Deloitte reported that wellbeing has been steadily rising in importance and by integrating wellbeing into the design of work, organisations can build a more sustainable future where individuals feel supported and can perform at their best. Examples of innovative ‘wellbeing’ policies aimed at ultimately attracting and retaining talent include offering ‘unlimited holidays’ and ‘mental health days’. In addition, creating a workplace culture which facilitates and promotes the ability to disconnect out of working hours will negate the negative impacts of home working and improve employees’ wellbeing.

Newer office designs are also more likely to address wellbeing like they never have before. As discussed above, employers may start turning their attentions to biophilic design if they haven’t done so already, with greater emphasis being placed on the role the office can play in relation to both physical and mental health.  Indeed, some employers are already going so far as to make changes to office design so that “workers leave the office feeling better than when they arrived” by creating public spaces and ‘infinity parks’ which span the whole office.  Of course, not all employers are going to have the space or budget to embark on such ambitious design projects, but no doubt some of the underlying principles here will be useful for all companies when considering their offices of the future.

Technology

Technology will also play a fundamental role in the success of any office in the future, particularly when it comes to hybrid working. After all, employees will need to be able to work seamlessly between the office and home, and there also needs to be ease of connectivity between people in the office and those working remotely. Investment in IT and other technology (as well as in proper training for how to use it) will, therefore, be paramount for everyone.

We mentioned some examples in our previous articles where technology may feature in the future office and new ideas continue to emerge all the time. Alongside the far-reaching implications of the metaverse on the future of work, other more near term solutions are emerging.  For example, to help deal with any barriers to effective team working between remote and office-based work, Google is reported to be creating a new style of meeting room, where in-person attendees sit in a circle interspersed with screens displaying the faces of those who are dialling-in. Google is also reported to have created a prototype desk which can adjust to an employee’s personal preferences (including calibrating the height and tilt of the computer monitor and bringing up family photos on a display) with a swipe of a work badge. Whether either of these ideas actually make it into the mainstream office world remains to be seen, but no doubt any efforts to help bridge the gap between remote and in-person working, and to help those new to hot desking, will be very welcomed.

CONCLUDING REMARKS - REIMAGINING THE OFFICE OF THE FUTURE

There is no denying that the world of office work has changed, most likely irreversibly, over the last two years. Many are now embarking on adapting to working back in the office on a more regular basis, and that may involve some trial and error during a period of transition to the new status quo. 

As a result of the large-scale office hiatus, employers will inevitably face numerous challenges to bring their teams back together in a way which successfully balances the triple bottom line (people, place, planet). Companies are already having to confront a kaleidoscope of issues as they foster new ways of working, from wellbeing to sustainability to technology, as well tackling the financial and logistical implications of the changing office landscape.

The emerging dominance of the hybrid model shouldn’t be seen as the easy option when it comes to re-integration into the workplace. But, if implemented carefully and evaluated by both management and employees regularly, the hybrid approach is perhaps the most beneficial model available in the current climate to meet the shifting needs of the workforce in the context of the “Great Resignation”. 

To find out more about the challenges of future work spaces read our Great Office Occupier & Developer Debate series.

This second article in our two-part series was written by Laura Bougourd and Niamh Crotty, lawyers in Lewis Silkin LLP’s Real Estate and Employment practices.