More fine dining, less all-you-can-eat buffet

My morning commute is my litmus test of office occupancy levels in London.?With no delays or cancellations, I've been unable to get a seat the past three Thursdays, something that was a certainty before Covid.?That suggests London is in fact busier, and that’s no surprise – for the best chance to connect and socialise with clients and colleagues, everyone is commuting the day when everyone else is in.?It helps that the day after is also Friday.

But this approach - turn up unannounced, see many people through a 'chance encounter', grabbing whatever space is available to do, potentially means more office space will be needed than before to handle this 'super' peak of the week.?Space that sits partially or completely empty the rest of the time.?And because Thursday is so busy, it risks becoming the luke warm buffet – people still ?frenzy over, but it leaves you stuffed and a little unsatisfied when the experience if poor due to overcrowding.?

In our personal lives we're used to booking things that have limited capacity. ?'Signalling' to an airline, hotel, or restaurant that we will show up is normal.?The further in advance we do it, the better the offer (price, benefits, amenities).?In a restaurant we make further choices; pre-ordering that 72-hour triple-braised carrot tartar, and then taking time to enjoy the dining?experience, because we plan what we want (from the menu) plan the amenities we need with it (wine, bread), and then focus on what matters - the food and the company.?

But when we translate that to the office we hate the concept.?Desking booking has been all but abandoned (and isn’t needed). ??Meeting room availability constrains us, because we often book late, or repeat bookings and 'no-shows' clog the system (unless systematically released). Sharing parameters rather than booking a specific space ('I need space for 3 of us, 2 hours, next week') requires a level of trust in systems, or a PA.?Widely signalling your presence in the office to others??We're getting better at it, but some are hesitant (‘why should others know my movements?’), and it’s a manual process that at best:

?It’s great to see people back together.?But this emerging habit is unsustainable from both a cash and carbon perspective.?The ‘new normal’ of 3 days in the office leaves offices sat unproductive two days a week, four is you count weekends.?What business would tolerate a factory asset working at 60% capacity long term??Few.?Or 15% of the entire week (24/7)? Neither the Chief Financial Officer or Chief Sustainability Officer will tolerate this inefficiency long term, let alone the taking of more space. As embodied carbon / the complete carbon lifecycle become better understood this will come under heavy scrutiny for many occupiers, especially as 2030 decarbonisation commitments get nearer

So if the existing model isn't sustainable, and isn't very fulfilling either what's the alternative??We have to become more intentional in how we work, and use a wider variety of spaces to achieve it.?This requires 3 key behavioural changes

• We need to better think about where activities could be done, mindful of the whole to-do list, and arranging diaries to group activities into 'together' work and that done independently.?This needs better planning and might mean activities move around in diaries a lot more, but ultimately should lead to less time wasted moving from a to b - both to and from offices, and within them
• We need to better signal our movements and locations to the business (and even our clients), so that chance encounters can become semi-intentional This needs better communication, and if anyone has a system that can interrogate diaries and provide a solution in this space please get in touch!
• We need to accept that a wider variety of spaces can and should be used to deliver work, alongside 'the office'.??This has budget implications; costs for ‘flex’ spaces may fall into a Travel & Expense budget rather than real estate one.??This needs more co-ordinated budgeting because they are all doing the same thing - moving people to give them the most productive environment for what they need to do.??

This is a fundamental shift in how we think about offices.?But if we want every ton of carbon emitted to be 'productive' (at least put to good use, rather than emitted without any real benefit), we have to accept changes in how we engage with space.?

Views are my own