David Laws, Partner at Fisher German

“… The best businesses & organisations retain something of the spirit of the village or club, where people know and value each other.”

Charles Handy, one of the greatest authorities on organisational behaviour and management

The change in our attitude to work, which has emerged over the last five years, is probably as profound a development as the invention of the spinning jenny was to the industrial revolution.

Many people, across the globe, have reviewed and evolved their relationship with the world – especially their relationship with work, the workplace, those they work with and those they manage.

The office is therefore no longer just a place to work: it has to be a destination which employees must ‘want’ to visit. It’s all about relationships; with work, with the workplace, with our colleagues, with our line managers and everyone we come into contact during the course of our working lives.

Charles Handy observed decades ago that the best businesses and organisations retained the spirit of a club or village: a place where the most successful relationships are between people who know and value each other.

I think he would approve of our current workplace philosophy, focused as it is on creating harmonious and productive environments which consultants and space planners consider akin to a Multi-Use Games Area: a place which accommodates multiple activities within the confines of the office envelope.

Traditional conference rooms and work areas now share space with café workspaces, wellness/gyms, community zones and areas Charles Handy would consider vital to creating the ‘… spirit of the village or club …’.

The handmaiden of this evolution has been technology. It has helped to redefine:

• ‘What’ work is – the eclectic mix of what organisations and individuals define as ‘work’ (think influencers, coders and CFOs)
• ‘Where’ we work – over 33m digital nomads now work from almost 70 countries worldwide
• ‘How’ we work – hybrid working is now almost the norm for many office folk
• ‘When’ we work – removing the need to be in the office has led to a better life-work balance.

In addition, societal developments have played their part. The universal acceptance of the DEI agenda, as well as a greater awareness of health & mental wellbeing at work highlights a significant cultural shift in the workplace. This has proved a catalyst for greater employee empowerment.

Intergenerational ‘frissions’

However, the greater focus on ‘me’ in the workplace has coincided with the rise of ‘office conflict’. One manifestation of this is the difference in attitudes towards work, work ethics, culture and expectations evident in multi-generational teams.

Today, it is quite usual to see inter-generational, multi-cultural teams (comprising employees aged between 17 and 70 and drawn from various cultures), not always sharing the same work ethic. I have heard one group described as work-shy and entitled by another, who are in turn labelled dinosaurs and out of touch.

The resulting psychological and emotional ‘frissions’ have led to the creation of the relatively new position of ‘Workplace Mediator’ – a qualified professional whose remit is resolving workplace disputes and foster better working relationships.

Productivity

But the new age of hybrid working is not for all. Companies such as Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and WPP have summoned employees back into the office, full time, because they feel that their company’s productivity has been impacted.

This argument is supported by the fact that multinational, technology-intensive companies, which routinely use multi-locationed R&D teams, were seriously impacted by lockdowns and WFH. A study by Michele Angelo Cecchi, et al* into how COVID-19 affected R&D processes at three global companies, concluded that WFH made new product development more difficult because it reduced human interaction, communications, social interaction and knowledge sharing – all critical to successful R&D via the generation and transfer of tacit knowledge.

Apocryphal evidence: a tech super power claims to be two years behind its R&D programme because of its WFH policy.

The physical environment

Whilst the principle of hybrid working is well established in the West (many firms have already downsized and employers see the benefits of remote working), many companies face logistical challenges such as employees coming into the office on the same days of the week (usually Tuesdays to Thursdays). This makes it difficult to calculate any reduction in space requirements.

Data from the US on entry card swipes highlights the fact that even on the most popular day (Tuesday), office usage is, on average, still only around 63% of its pre-COVID level.

Therefore, to make savings on an asset they only use 60% of the time, some companies:

• Have encouraged employees to come in on a particular day
• Others share space with other firms
• Have adopted a ‘hub & spoke’ model (ie a smaller head office located in an expensive city centre is the ‘hub’ and smaller satellite offices, located in less expensive regional locations, are the ‘spokes’). This allows employees to work closer to home and reduce their commute times and costs, while still facilitating a high degree of collaboration.

A noticeable cultural shift relates to lifestyle decisions. Affordability issues facing many prospective city centre home buyers combined with a desire for more space to WFH, has led to an irreversible trend for regionally located, lower priced homes, offering a better work-life balance – in locations with good links to their city based jobs.

Today’s collaborative, supportive and community-oriented workplace is a ‘village’ where employees feel valued, connected and empowered – a place designed to create a sense of belonging and mutual support.

A far cry from the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ era of recent times.