Part 3 of 3

Companies have successfully moved to remote working, and many may want to take advantage of this permanently, questioning the need for expensive physical spaces, particularly if lease agreements are coming to an end.

Fujitsu have already announced a 50% cut in real estate and Google, Facebook and Twitter have all said staff can remote work permanently. But have they considered the trade-offs and long-term implications? Employee wellbeing, technology, kit, which roles can be performed long-term at home and which not, even automation.

Decisions about office space will have repercussions on everything from business effectiveness to productivity, from health and safety of employees to regulation and governance. There is absolutely an opportunity here for businesses to reduce costs, but there is also a once in a lifetime chance to relook at the entire operating model more radically than ever before.

The digital acceleration created by Covid-19 could lead to the automation of some roles and processes. And the surprisingly successful global ‘remote work experiment’ means businesses also need to think about how they want to work in the future — and the amount and type of space needed to do it.

Although employees enjoy their newfound freedom and flexibility working from home, our research shows they still desire a space where they can congregate and feel a sense of belonging. This is supported by a JLL survey of 3,000 office users which found that 58% of workers missed office life, with people aged 35 and under showing the strongest desire to return. Human interaction and socialising with colleagues were the most missed element, at 44%, followed by collective face-to-face work at 29%.

This suggests that there is an opportunity to reimagine the purpose of the office as a social hub, focusing on cultivating the right environment for collaboration and creativity, leaving the desk-work for the home. Now is the time for businesses to build strong remote-working practices that integrate seamlessly with systems and processes and transform the office from a place, to an experience.

“We need to stop thinking of buildings as a cost centre and start seeing them as a strategic driver of value, whether that’s for productivity or engagement or collaboration” Matthew Marson, WSP

But this is about more than just where we work, it’s about how a business operates. It’s about re-engineering the operating model to successfully navigate the changing landscape and build a future for the business. To do this there are key questions that need to be answered and decisions that businesses will need to make, but with an acute understanding of the potential consequences and implications for the longer-term. It’s important to acknowledge that this is easier said than done. It’s unchartered territory and we don’t yet know all the answers.

What we do know is that there are a set of common business goals that we have identified through our research. Goals that businesses must strive for:

• Cost efficiency and business effectiveness
• Wellbeing, health, and safety
• Engaged and productive employees
• Effective collaboration
• Speedy decision-making
• Right level of governance (particularly in regulated environments)

In order to achieve these goals and help define the future strategy of the workplace, it’s important to consider 5 aspects.

These should help to influence and guide thinking, ensuring leaders are asking the right questions at the right time.

Customer: businesses must ensure they design for rapidly changing needs and create adaptability

Skills: both leaders and employees will need new capabilities alongside enhancing existing ones

Rituals: businesses must rethink key processes, meetings and ways of working to remain effective

Environment: the design of physical spaces, the amount of them and the practical things employees will need to ensure productivity need to be considered

Social Capital: leaders must maintain employee engagement, avoid burnout and look after health and wellbeing

Businesses face a unique opportunity at this moment to embrace a new blended world of work, transforming operating models in line with this way of working. What is imperative is that leaders assess the longer-term consequences of their short-term decisions at regular intervals. Whilst the world is in such a state of flux, frequent reviews will be required to set guiding principles and help shape the strategy of the future of work.

Conclusion

There is potential for a seismic change in how businesses choose to operate going forward, reinventing and redefining “work” in the new world. Organisations that seize this opportunity to change will outpace their peers, differentiating themselves in the market, gaining competitive advantage and building a truly employee-centric experience.

Leaders today must adopt new skills and refocus their efforts on employee experience. And in this new world where companies are cutting fixed costs and long leases, the ‘sharing economy’ continues to rise, and technology and cloud computing is so easily accessible we will see the growth of ‘space as a service’, totally reimagining the office environment.

However it is important not to forget the customer. Businesses, understandably, have become incredibly introspective over the past few months, and their biggest problem today is how they bring people back to work. It’s amazing that people have risen up the business agenda but what’s important is that it is not at the expense of businesses focusing on the customer.

There is little point in reengineering the business if it isn’t in service for your customer. Businesses must ensure they don’t lose sight of who the consumer is, and continue to design for their rapidly changing needs. After all, every employee working from home is also a customer living with a strange new life they never thought they’d lead.

Natalia Walters is a consultant at Fluxx. Stay tuned with all that’s Fluxx by following us on LinkedIn or signing up for our WTF Newsletter.

Are you curious as to how Fluxx has helped companies such as Condé Nast, Mars, Thames Water, HSBC, Addison Lee Group and many more? Learn the secrets for sustained, repeatable innovation models, from expert practitioners. Get in touch now Natalia.Walters@Fluxx.uk.com. Equally, if you have any thoughts on the piece above, I’d love to hear from you!