How Covid-19 may (or may not) shape the future of the workspace
There’s lots of rumination on the future of the workplace out there at the moment, but Stephen George + Partners’ Geoff Ward cuts through a lot of the nonsense in his latest blog piece. Workplace culture may change in a post-Covid-19 world, he says, but people need to collaborate and the offices of the future will be broadly the same as they ever were.
Geoff does not see how proposed future workplaces where social distancing and contamination control are the key design driver – for instance plastic pods and sneeze screens between desks – can work. The idea of being in a shared space without the ability to interact socially with colleagues would be worse than being in isolation, he says. “Were that the option, I would be inclined to stay at home as much as possible and remove the temptation.
“When we come out of the other side, as we will, we will have learnt from those things that worked well and the benefits that have, ironically, been brought to our working habits and work/life balance by Covid-19. Employers, including us, will be more receptive to the idea of remote working – be it at home or elsewhere – and we will embrace with more enthusiasm online collaboration platforms and virtual meeting technology. We will perhaps do less commuting, less inter-city travelling for meetings and be better at organising, managing, communicating and presenting. We will perhaps have begun to learn what really matters to us and to fit it in around our work.
“Perhaps we do not need a workstation for everyone, and that maybe agile working does have something to offer after all. Maybe we won’t need quite as much space as we once thought we would when we bounce back and continue to grow!
“But, above all, I will look forward to a time when my team can sit round a communal table, make drawings, exchange views, have coffee and cake, and laugh! Importantly, we will celebrate that we can all do it together.”
You can read Geoff’s full article on workspaces post Covid-19 HERE