Reimagining The Future Of Workplaces

One thing we can all agree, the future of work will be different from the status quo of just a few months ago. The lockdown has forced enterprises and employees alike to find new formats to collaborate and be productive. A totally new set of startups will arise to address the opportunity of this inevitable shift towards remote teams. I even recently read an article that fascinated me on how architecture and home design will evolve in the future to this new normal. Even in a four-person family, let alone an intergenerational family, when each spouse has to do work from home while two kids need to do online classes, the clashes are inevitable, and balancing family priorities is difficult.

Everyone has had different preferences based on the industries they work for, the cities they live in, and with work-life balance in question.

I conducted a poll asking: If you had your preference for workplace options, what would you choose? The choices were: Structured office environment, Mix of office + relaxed WFH, or WFH in the current form.

My Experience of Working from home

I had recently written about my experience of work from home and my productivity hacks. For myself, I love the advantages of WFH but the time spent with colleagues in unstructured conversation is a key part of ideating and managing well being. So I would not advocate WFH for myself as a full time option.

Now getting back to what everyone who responded to the poll had to say.

Here is the result of the poll: Mix of office + Relaxed WFH won

A mix of Office & relaxed WFH

Working from office for collaboration with the team members, closing on important topics, working on tight deadlines, etc can help the employee feel more disciplined and productive. It provides the employees with an environment to focus and less prone to be disturbed due to distractions. At the same time, relaxed WFH brings in much-needed flexibility and is perceived as a convenient option. Lots of startups like Google have already successfully cracked this structure with employees not just working from home but also working from different geographies and time zones on the projects from offices around the world.

Structured office environment

Many echoed the sentiment that working in offices provides us with an organized way of working and helps focus on the tasks sans distractions. Whilst we can conduct meetings and talk to colleagues to execute our tasks over zoom calls, people missed collaboration and camaraderie which helped bring more discipline and productivity.

Work from Home

A lot of respondents were concerned about not being able to find time for themselves due to work and long traveling hours. Work from home and the freedom to choose the time well suited to meet their energy levels and allows them to spend with their family or on their hobbies.

Work from anywhere in the world — A new option emerged

Yes, we also got a photo of working from a mango groove! :)

The result of the preferred choice by majority — ‘Structured office + focused WFH’ will be a differentiator for employers to offer while they reimagine the future of work practices.

Disclaimer: Views represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the author and do not represent the views of Kalaari.