WORKSPACE
Legacy working environments are no longer fit for purpose. The risks posed by the virus mean that it has fallen to business leaders to make decisions on not only the safety of their employees, but the safety of their families too. Employees and managers have had a different experience of remote working, which we will explore in more depth below.
THE REMOTE WORKPLACE
The way employees and managers view remote working is different. Remote managers are highly aware of and are concerned about employee workplace environments, with nearly 80% of managers saying they have struggled to ensure that employees are in appropriate environments.
Conversely, remote employees do not feel the same degree of concern but are still clearly in a process of adjustment, with 67% of them experiencing workplace concerns such as Wi-Fi issues or home set-up. Two interesting points of misconception between managers and employees are that of equipment and dedicated space.
Our research found that managers cite staff not having access to the right equipment (32%) or dedicated space (28%) as being their key concern. The reality, according to our research is that only 19% of employees are struggling to access the right equipment and 20% don’t feel like they have their own dedicated space.
Remote working spaces are essential to the modern employee experience. For some, it is a sacred space of contemplation and concentration, for others, it is an opportunity to be more themselves, allowing them more collaborative and creative thinking processes. To fully embrace the remote workplace, we need to be adaptable and understanding. It starts with a listening exercise and ends with an assessment of the insight. When you are equipped with the perspectives of your staff, you can review your success criteria and align them both to maximise productivity.
THE NEW ‘OFFICE’
For those returning to the office, the experience has been challenging for both managers and employees, who cited physical safety as being a key concern. More than 4/5 (84%) of returned managers have experienced workplace concerns and almost 3/4 (73%) of returned employees have concerns about the physical workplace.
With safety high on the agenda, our research revealed that 1 in 5 returned managers believe that their office has not been compliant, despite employees being asked to return when it was safe to do so.
Similarly, 1 in 4 employees do not feel safe in their physical workplace, but are required to attend. To some degree this is to be expected; with regulations changing rapidly, clarity on the way we operate has never been more crucial.
For example, what we do know is that social distancing is a tangible and accepted measure for creating a safe environment. Despite that fact,
for most returned businesses, social distancing is still cited as the biggest challenge by both managers (35%) and employees (37%).
With the future of work still evolving every day, the findings suggest that the workplace can no longer be defined as a physical location such as an office. But when we do come to consider what our office experience looks like; we must strive to make it better than home. It needs to be a desired destination that addresses the productive necessities of the people within it and takes into account their concerns about safety.
BEHAVIOURAL PSYCHOLOGIST EMMA KENNY, ANALYSIS
Remote spaces often include access to broadband meaning that video calls, instant messaging and emails are fast, effective and even more reliable than experienced in the office environment. This provides staff with a feeling that home offers a more competent environment than traditional workspace experience.
This bias, further strengthened by the benefits many staff feel come from working from home, means that the office now has to have ‘added value’ - it needs to be more than just a place of work, it needs to become a ‘lifestyle choice’.
The office must present added value if staff are to feel ready to confront the fears that they have built up. Workspaces have become distorted, these once safe, familiar places now look foreign and unfriendly even. Human beings like consistency and familiarity, and in this post-COVID corporate world, the over sanitised, socially distanced workplace can feel overwhelming and affronting. This is why it is important to consider ways of making the office feel more human, safe and encouraging to those returning to it.
