Remote working becomes distributed working
– For the past year, most of us have been working, which is working outside of
the offices. But as more offices reopen, it’s unlikely that everyone will
simply head back to the office each day. What’s most likely is distributed
working, which refers to how individuals and teams work across many locations
(including the office) becomes the norm. Since many organizations have learned
that their workers can, in fact, be trusted to be productive in almost any
location, expect that workers will have the freedom to when and where they’d like
for the forseeable future.
Offices reopen, but with more breathing room
(phew!) – You know what’s not very popular during a pandemic? Sitting three
feet from someone else trying to do their work. And guess what? It wasn’t very
popular before the pandemic either. As distributed working becomes more
normalized, expect the pressure to “densify” office floors with lots of small
desks to be reduced – and for offices to gain some metaphorical and literal
breathing room in the future.
Workplace wellness takes on a new meaning
– Whereas physical ergonomics has always mattered to those with bad backs, eye
strain, or carpel tunnel, the world is beginning to realize just how critical
our places of work are to our cognitive and social health as well. Look for
organizations to place a renewed emphasis on the workplace as a destination for
socialization and culture building, along with quiet areas to focus and escape
stress.
Facilities meets marketing – As employers
offer people more autonomy to choose when and where they’d like to work, the
office will increasingly be viewed as an “on-demand” resource. To better
support positive employee experiences and ensure a good return on real estate
investments, facilities teams will dial up the desirability of their spaces, focusing
on understanding employee needs and offering positive experiences to keep
employees happy and healthy.
Power to the people! End-user control becomes
a priority – Since peoples’ work patterns have so drastically shifted in
2020, the tasks of designing future spaces can no longer easily be based upon
past behaviors. As a means of embracing this uncertainty, and ensuring future
flexibility, spaces will be designed to maximize end-user control, putting the
power to adapt it in the hands of the employees with furniture, technology and
even architecture that can be easily changed.
Fewer meetings; more chatting – collaboration
technologies offer teams several ways to interact – posting in Teams or Slack channels,
chatting via instant messaging, or in video meetings – and most of us have had
enough video meetings to last us a long while. As teams become more comfortable
with asynchronous collaboration (connecting at different times throughout the
day rather than having everyone meeting simultaneously) and as reopened offices
allow for more informal dialogue, our video fatigue will finally be remedied.
“Tier 2” cities start to pop – Big cities
are awesome, but they’re also expensive and difficult to navigate for those
commuting in from more affordable suburbs. As distributed working becomes more
common, expect people to migrate towards more affordable locations that offer
big-city amenities, which will provide new economic growth opportunities for
these “tier 2” cities. Barbeque in Austin, anyone?
Work from home experiences get better – While
most people enjoy the chance to work from home a few days a week, most of us
didn’t enjoy being forced into exclusively working from home with little
preparation. Look for those WFH experiences to improve as employers provide high-quality
ergonomic seating, sit-to-stand desks, and critical technologies to employees
for their homes. Reopened offices and coworking spaces will provide additional
options for workers, and the reopening of schools will lessen the need for
employees to simultaneously juggle working and parenting.
Outdoor work (and bringing the outdoors in)
accelerate – One of the silver linings of working through a global pandemic
is that many people rediscovered the physical, mental and emotional benefits of
being outside. Look for both individuals and organizations to embrace outdoor
working as a regular work experience and for the interior design of spaces to
be inspired or mimic the great outdoors (what’s known as “biophilic” design).
Coworking comes to your block – The first
wave of coworking may have had a few things wrong. Most spaces were located in
the central business district of big cities and assumed that people would come
in each day to work in an open environment with people from many companies.
Instead, look for future coworking spaces to be located in residential centers,
providing people the opportunity to escape down the road for an hour or a day
when they need a time of focus or team interactions with nearby colleagues.
