Are companies really ready for the flexible work environment?

I had the pleasure of recently meeting with Brett Hautop , the founder of Workshape ?– a consultancy created at what many people consider to be a moment of existential change in the history of work.

An architect, and a lecturer in design, Brett most recently worked at LinkedIn and was responsible for all aspects of the company’s global workplace program and the workplace experience.

His enthusiasm, unique style and expertise comes across as ideal to help build consensus around a topic where rational thinking is often overshadowed by historical habits, emotions and personal biases.

So why this topic? I wanted Borderless to be better informed when we are hearing many executive teams asking the basic question about the number of days should we commute to an office or work from home, a topic we are also dealing with on a smaller scale with our Global Hub in Brussels.

As Brett pointed out during our recent discussion, the questions need to be much more fundamental – where is best to get work done, how should our teams should be organized and when, why do people need to be physically together…and lot’s more.

During our conversation, it became clear that many organizations still need to develop a comprehensive basis for a workplace strategy. We know that lots of time is spent arguing?whether we need offices at all - where should they be, how big, how small, and what are the things that need to happen there? CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies ordering people back to the office – back to the ways we used to know, but are the traditional ways of working still the right answer? Let’s just say that decisions do not always take into account what’s best for the company and for the employee.

It is clear as day that there is a need for organizations to create a fresh experience that will sustain workforces in the future.

Brett argued that the shape of the workplace should be a reflection of your organization, its strategy, culture, values and workforce policies; they must bring meaning and value to employees if they are to make sense from an investment, sustainability and human perspective.

Beyond determining where you should have physical locations or trying to right size them to align with attendance and utilization patterns, you will need to figure out what types of space for which activities is going to bring the greatest ROI. The strategy needs to be specific to your company’s cultural aspirations and tactical workforce policies.

As Brett commented, until now we either had enough space, or we found ways to fit more people into the same space... or just found more space. As our old friend Andrew Chadwick said, get the space you need, but just for the time you need it. A difficult task, as is defining the philosophy around the design of physical workspaces. Likely it will take more than foosball tables and bean bags. The reasons and times that people come to the office will be very different as will expectations of what happens when they get there. Doing the very same thing in the office that you were doing at home does not make a lot of sense. Ultimately, organizations will need to create purpose and value to get a return on coming to the office in person.

At Borderless we see companies such as Tetra Pak experimenting with new types of spaces, and new reasons for being in an office. The ability to attract and retain employees through a new workplace strategy has to come to the top of HR.

According to Brett Hautop, many companies are at a standstill, waiting to see how others will move forward, or worse still, they are making reductions in their footprint without any true long term strategy in place. With so much change on the horizon, how you evolve the shape of your workplace will impact your business’ sustainability?

I am indebted to Brett for helping to evolve our thinking on our work environment and I hope some of the answers will catalyse thinking in your organizations. To help things along, I have invited Brett to spend some more time with us on Borderless Executive Live podcast in the next weeks.?