2021 Predictions: Six Ways COVID-19 Will Reshape Workspaces, Practices and Culture

We will all remember 2020 as a defining year—and the impact of the pandemic will be felt for years to come. Here are my top six predictions for how COVID-19 will shape our workspaces, work practices, and work culture in the coming year.

#1 Organizations will focus on creating purposeful workspaces

Organizations will be more thoughtful about the design and use of different workspaces. They will increase their focus on (1) reimagining offices designed for innovation, collaboration, connection, and trust and (2) making sure employees’ home offices are conducive to individual work activities and virtual team coordination and collaboration. 

#2 Companies will rethink how they use surplus office space

Companies are grappling with how much office space they’ll need post-COVID. While fewer people will commute daily to the office, the need for employees to socially distance at the office will absorb some of that newfound space. Expect organizations to repurpose that extra space to create inventive environments for successful collaboration. That might mean designing a lobby more like that of a hotel so it doubles as a meeting space, adding café-like gathering spaces to offices, or establishing different “zones” within an office for different work activities. 

#3 Company office perks will change

Enticements to attract top talent will move from on-site gyms, daycare, and lunchrooms with free food to more relevant perks in a COVID/post-COVID work world. Perks will look more like digital health and well-being services, such as subscriptions to apps for meditation, fitness, therapy, and more. 

#4 Organizations will proactively engineer moments of serendipity into remote work life

Recognizing the need for serendipity and “unplanned collisions” in our remote work life, organizations will find new ways to plan for chance. The virtual happy hour is a good start, but there’s so much more to be done to trigger those magic moments when an idea sparks or an important connection is made.  To that end, smart organizations will have employees build in “escape time” to help them avoid online meeting fatigue so they remain sharp and engaged. 

#5 Decision-making about strategic technology investments will move upstream

Just as in the past we saw decisions move from IT to line-of-business buyers, decision-making will again move—this time up and into the C-suite. As companies realize that work-from-home and collaboration technologies are now essential to smooth business operations, the executive team will become more involved in these investments. Similarly, travel budgets will be reallocated, especially to enable home office set-ups and highly effective office collaboration room and environments.  

#6 AI will play an Alexa-type role in office buildings

We will see highly imaginative applications of AI, especially when it comes to voice-activated commands that prevent us from touching shared surfaces in the lobby, conference room, or shared workspace. But there’s more—AI will also alert us to important information we can take action on, such as a huddle room that is exceeding its capacity or a notification that a meeting is over so the room can be cleaned.

I’ve always been an advocate for the proverbial silver lining. COVID-19 tested all of us in many ways, but it’s been amazing to see how people and organizations have tapped into deep reservoirs of resilience and innovation to survive and thrive.

I wish everyone a healthy, happy, prosperous 2021! I’m eager to get back on road, traveling to see customers, partners, and Poly team members around the globe. Honestly, I can’t wait to once again eat bad airplane food, stand in line for a rental car, sleep in a hard hotel bed, and battle jet lag. For a self-proclaimed road warrior, those things can’t come soon enough.