The pandemic has radically changed how we work – including where we choose to hunker down and get things done. In fact, the past few months have inspired many employees to consider swapping physical offices for more flexible – and often safer – remote workspaces.
Employers would be wise to consider this shift. In a recent PwC survey, 55% of employees said they prefer to return to the office only thrice a week, and spend the rest working remotely. On the flip side, a large percentage cited a preference for face-to-face small meetings, group presentations and collaboration, suggesting that central workspaces aren’t dead – at least, not yet.
In the coming months, employers looking to improve morale and attract top talent must consider a mixture of hybrid workspace arrangements. To help, here are four inspiring workspace ideas from architectural firm Woods Bagot that employers can adopt and implement for a reimagined post-pandemic workspace.
The In and Out workspace
The idea behind In and Out is simple: employees are placed into small teams that rotate into the office every other day or week. Google has placed its teams on a rotating schedule, allowing them to come in for a few days every week – which allows cleanliness and sanitization efforts to be maintained.
The Good:
- Highly optimal for companies with huge employee headcounts
- Minimizes exposure between employees while allowing some office culture and camaraderie to exist
The Bad:
- Social distancing gaps between tables must be enforced, lowering the number of employees per rotation
- High maintenance costs, as surfaces must be cleaned before the next rotation
The Culture Club workspace
The concept of the Culture Club is to provide a space within a space that allows for safe discussion and collaboration. While most daily tasks can be accomplished at home, employees will benefit tremendously from being able to touch base with their team within a Culture Club workspace. That’s why most Culture Clubs are arranged in a ‘cafe-esque’ layout, with hot seats, sofas and coffee tables grouped together. Marketing firm McKinney, for example, has transformed much of their headquarters into collaborative spaces – think bean bags around whiteboards or outdoor decks with video conferencing screens.
The Good:
- Interactive tasks like business pitches or brainstorming can be efficiently done free of lag or connection issues
- Provides opportunities for social interaction, which combats the isolation and fatigue from remote work
The Bad:
- Workspaces must be rearranged into designated areas of isolated space, which can be difficult for smaller offices
- Not conducive for individual or desk tasks, which are expected to be done at home
The Community Node workspace
By far the most intriguing workspace idea, if not the most difficult, to execute. Community Nodes fragment a central office location into several decentralised and community-based work hubs located near to where employees live. Local companies like AirAsia’s Teleport and Carsome already utilize this idea. Moving forwards, companies should consider subscribing to co-working spaces that act as Community Nodes for employees – giving them the freedom and choice to work closer to their homes.
The Good:
- Ideal for companies looking to reduce office footprint due to high overhead costs or underutilization
- Reduced employee anxiety from daily commutes, while still offering the benefits of social interaction
The Bad:
- Requires significant effort, as companies must establish and maintain a network of satellite or community hubs
- Employees or business teams are geographically scattered, reducing visibility
The Collective workspace
This workspace idea resembles that of an open office plan. The difference is that employees are located in small clusters cordoned off from one another, but sharing common areas like the pantry, washrooms or entertainment areas. Bergmeyer, a design agency, took this a step further by highlighting social distancing areas, traffic flows and seat rotations in their floor plans to employees.
The Good:
- Employees can see, talk and collaborate naturally, giving them a sense of pre-pandemic normality
- Companies with existing large offices can fully utilize paid-for space, with relatively minor adjustments
The Bad:
- Employees must maintain strict COVID-19 precautions, like indoor masking or sanitizing before returning to work clusters
- Lowers but doesn’t significantly eliminate risks of exposure between employees
Deciding on the right post-pandemic workspace
Which of the four workspace ideas listed above is right for the post-pandemic business world? The answer, as always, is that it depends. Here are several considerations that would guide you, as an employer, to select and establish suitable post-pandemic workspaces:
- What’s your headcount? With less than 50 employees, approaches like the Collective and Community Node make sense, as there’s less difficulty in clustering or decentralizing the workforce. For larger businesses, In and Out would be easier to plan and be much more sustainable.
- How big is your office? Workspaces like the Culture Club and Collective require a substantial amount of floorspace to maintain social distancing and keep employees safe. Consider also the additional costs of cleaning and properly sanitizing the surfaces of these shared workspaces.
- How long will you be doing this? Circumstances will change. That has been an apparent fact throughout this pandemic, and a workspace arrangement that works now may not in the near future. If employers are uncertain about the coming months, consider less commitment-heavy workspaces like In and Out.
- Would a hybrid arrangement work? Consider also blending multiple workspaces ideas. For instance, employers could combine In and Out rotations with a Collective open floor plan, allowing accommodation of a higher volume of returning employees, but not at the expense of safety and social distancing precautions.
Most important of all, employers must remain aware what their employees need. More so now than ever before, as employees have endured months of remote isolation, and some may be affected in ways employers cannot predict.
Hence, employers should commit some time and effort into assessing their mental wellbeing of their employees, and their future expectations for workspace arrangements. Only then can an ideal workspace arrangement be decided, one that’s able to accommodate how employees prefer to work – and excel – in this fast-changing, post-pandemic world.
