And just like that, "new work" already means something else.
Oh, how the times are quickly changing. Our generations are blessed (or cursed, depends how you see it) to be witnesses and actors of an era that just refuses to slow down.
An example: contracts! For decades and decades, contracts were drafted on paper and then physically dragged across the building to complete the signature process. Then came technology, and in a matter of years, we started drafting contracts on Word, print, and circulate. Then we were able to circulate electronically and only print for signature. Then we started storing the electronic versions. And now we have things like electronic signature processes that have completely transformed the way we do contracts.
The same is happening to work and the office. When the main innovations to the office space were the installations of telephones, and then handheld devices, and then personal computers - that took “only” 100 years. And then in a couple of decades we added voice over internet, headphones, laptops, instant messaging, VPNs, home office, etc.
Why the history lesson? Because it's good to remind ourselves how fast things change in today's era of work, pandemic or not. And thus, we have to be aware of the fact that the changes we are just now accepting for a fact, are most probably already yesterday's news.
The post-pandemic world was supposed to be about hybrid work. This was going to be the major innovation to our working lives. But the resilience and persistence of the pandemic may have shifted things - is the conversation still centered on where should we work to be productive or has it already moved on to how much should we work to be productive?
In the UK, at least 30 companies will join a program piloting the 4-day work week for a duration of 6 months. “Studies have shown that productivity improves along with corresponding gains in workers’ well-being”, according to Joe Ryle, director of the Four Day Week Campaign in the U.K.
Time and location - two traditional frameworks for evaluating performance that may have been irremediably challenged by the last couple of years.
Still, there is some evidence that these challenges do not mean that the concept of the office as the main base for performing work has completely vanished. As the UK has done away with the home office mandate, the commuters have returned - an indication that yes, the office does offer something that compensates the packed Tube commuting experience. For younger workers, that something might be guidance, mentorship and social connection.
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In any case, even with the return to the office made possible, most UK employers are welcoming their staff back while keeping flexible arrangements in place.?
Do we see the consequences for the office space yet?
Change, yes, but not necessarily reduction. Two+ years of wondering how and why people would go back, seems to have triggered a healthy number of questions for workplace leaders. The pandemic, mandatory distancing, and work from home, has possibly brought the focus on density as a deterrent for desk work. Space is an attraction argument - space for focus work, space for collaboration work, space for social connection.
The new office is not always full - it never really was - but it does have its value and it will see peaks when people see it convenient for their personal life, for their social life, and for their collaborative life.
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