Future of The Office far more nuanced than debate suggests

Workspace has value beyond production

When Twitter told 4,000 global employees on Tuesday they could work from home “forever” if they wished, the company was praised for its era- defining approach to workplace flexibility.

Other Silicon Valley companies including Facebook and Google have advised staff there is no need to return until 2021.

Around the world, as companies struggle to get back up and running after months of lockdown, bosses are asking the same questions.

Is Twitter’s approach the right one? How risky is it to tell your staff they need never return to the workplace? And will companies that take this approach come to regret it in the longer term when productivity and morale sag, and staff lose focus and a sense of camaraderie?

For the foreseeable future it’s clear working from home will remain the norm for millions of people.

There are obvious attractions. Workers get the flexibility to juggle childcare and other duties and save time and money otherwise spent commuting. Companies can cut costs too by renting smaller offices — or even no office at all — while shelling out less on everything from electricity to security, cleaning services to heating bills. It’s a compelling proposition in what may be a long recession. But an open- ended, Twitter- style policy of encouraging people to work from home indefinitely is also fraught with risk — and ignores a simple fact.

Although the flexibility is welcome, most people — especially younger workers without children — view the prospect of an endless, groundhog day of rising and shuffling to their computer to log on from their bedroom as rather unappealing.

While Zoom, messaging apps and other collaborative tools allow people to carry out most tasks efficiently from home, a dispersed workforce also strips away many of the intangible yet vital ways in that companies operate — and succeed.

With no office water cooler, how do ambitious employees “lean in” within an organization where they only ever see their colleagues or boss on a computer screen?

How do you place a value on that impromptu meeting in a corridor or in the lift with a colleague that allows you to amicably resolve a pressing issue?

Many place great value, too, in the social side of the workplace and the opportunity it lends to forge friendships or network with colleagues — both at work and afterwards, in the pub or a restaurant.

For big companies with enough resources, that means that far from abandoning the office — right now they should probably be busy reimagining and bolstering it for a different future.

Offices will need to be places where people feel safe from infection. That requires not just spacious interiors with fewer desks and more social distancing, but new technology and equipment to ensure everyone who enters is free of the virus.

So far, Amazon has probably gone further than any other company in trying to achieve this. Jeff Bezos told shareholders this month that he planned to spend US$ 4 billion insulating the company from coronavirus, including a mass employee testing program, extra PPE kit and pay for front- line staff, robots and social distancing.

Very few companies could afford to replicate this of course — but Bezos has got the right idea. If he succeeds in vaccinating Amazon and its supply chain from the virus, he will take a big leap towards his dual goal: creating a better environment where people want to work — while at the same time smashing the competition.

Other companies are taking similar, albeit more modest steps — including PWC, the audit firm, which is building its own employee contact tracing app.

Communal workplaces are likely to change in other ways too. In a post- COVID world, the staff canteen and other shared spaces may take on a valuable new role — as a rare place for people to spend time together in a safe and virus- free environment. Silicon Valley companies like Google have already pioneered campus working where staff can enjoy free food as well as spaces to meet and socialize.

It’s a model likely to take on a new urgency in an economy shorn of many of the opportunities to do so outside work: bars, restaurants, pubs, gyms and yoga studios. People once took these for granted but not any longer.

Smaller companies and those struggling to simply survive a brutal, economic shakeout won’t be able to follow these examples — but those that can may find themselves at an advantage to their competitors.

The office isn’t likely to vanish any time soon — but it is likely to change.

Companies that recognize this and embrace it may find their workforce more willing to return. Those that don’t may discover staff prefer to vote with their feet — either by staying at home or moving to an employer that offers a safer and more welcoming workplace.

Offices will need to be places where people feel safe from infection.