The office is dead, long live the office!
We are now a fair few weeks into home working and surprisingly, our team have been busier than ever. A strange position considering the current situation, a one we predicted would have a somewhat negative effect on us all. But on this thought alone, could it mean remote working is the future? And will our working lives change when this is all over? We set up a Workpattern webinar hosted by Bertie Van Wyk, Workplace Specialist at Herman Miller so ourselves, clients and friends could gain a better insight on the current situation we face.
“The office is dead, long live the office” is a research based talk and webinar discussing this exact statement. One thing we are never away from is our phone and devices - articles are popping up with various ideas on workplace, splashing out predictions for the future and in the shortest space of time an idea has formed that we can work anywhere. Images of laptops on a beach, relaxing in the park, lying in bed - which maybe we can enjoy for an hour or so, but realistically, we can’t keep that up for the average 40hr working week.
Bertie highlighted that “The office is dead” has two meanings:
The inside of offices are dead – places without life, without vibrancy where people’s hopes and dreams go to die
That buildings will be redundant or empty or because their uses have changed
“The business of people talking to each other in offices is a very serious consideration. It is by far the most expensive achievement of offices: the grouping of people that allows conversational exchange” - Robert Propst – 1968
Although some of us prefer the digital workplace, there is most definitely a purpose to the physical office. When talking about social interaction, Robert Propst suggested this is “by far the most expensive achievement”. Fifty years on, that is still because in person we are far more likely to gain a personal connection, we have an opportunity to discuss, exchange and collaborate when we are around other people. “You + me = 3” a regular phrase from Herman Miller, perfectly illustrates that the power of two minds can generate ideas as if there was a third person.
In the past, we as a team have had many discussions, seminars and researched based on millennials in the workplace. But does age actually make a difference to our choices on whether we prefer virtual or physical working?
The answer is no.
Some may be surprised at that, as the younger generation have earned themselves a title as the “tech savvy” along with many other things, but it is for this reason Herman Miller wanted to challenge generational stereotypes. Research revealed that age and generation has no direct connection to whether you prefer virtual or physical work because as humans we all have six fundamental needs.
So now we understand fulfilment of needs provides our best work. The question for both individuals and businesses remains, are these needs met better in the physical office or via virtual working?
Lets take a look at some pros and cons:
Both pros and cons are relatable, and ideally, we need to find the perfect balance of being at home and in the office. Whilst your colleagues may be excelling at remote working, you may feel distracted and unmotivated for the majority of the day - that is okay because as humans our needs will always be different regardless of where we are…
It is about choice and balance
It is about retraining
It is about trust
The current situation of COVID 19 is unusual one as we all know, and we can only try our best to keep ourselves, our employees and businesses together both now, and upon our return to work. As part of these needs, Herman Miller concluded that an ergonomic supported set up and strong sense of community will also benefit our virtual and physical offices: Happiness, Good Relationships, Self-expression, Shared values, Transparency, Participation and Impact are all recognised to be signs of a strong sense of community and are required to achieve a successful working team whether you are co-working, home working or office working.
So looking at the future, there is no direct answer to whether the office will be redundant or whether its here for years to come. We as humans require a mixture of both physical and virtual settings to retain engagement, but what we take from this might encourage flexibility and our views on the workplace might change. Personally, I believe the office is here to stay for a while yet, or at least I hope so because home working is not for me - long live the office!