Notwithstanding the current uncertainties surrounding the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines and their slower-than-expected distribution, employers fortunate enough to have sustained their businesses during the pandemic are eyeing the future with a cautious optimism. For many companies whose primary working environment is the office, this optimism has been accompanied by reconsideration of the role of the traditional workplace. Has COVID-19 really changed the future of the office? Will we return to business as usual or has the pandemic pushed us past a tipping point that futurists have long predicted, one wherein the shared workplace becomes radically unlike what we’ve known before?
My firm has yet to confront these issues directly, but we will undoubtedly do so in the coming months. Most of our staff have been working from home since the enactment of the State-mandated workplace restrictions. I can’t claim to be speaking on behalf of my coworkers regarding how they’ve fared on a personal level since last March, but I do believe there has been little if any drop-off in our ability to serve our clients. I know I’ve been as productive as ever and probably more focused while working remotely when compared to my ability to perform while in the office. For me at least, remote work is effective and attractive for several reasons.
Foremost for me is my increased productivity and performance. Interruptions are fewer. For better or worse, I don’t engage in as many spur-of-the-moment meetings, and the video conferences I do participate in tend to be more focused and efficient. My workspace here at home is a separate room, so quiet is easy to come by. And as I mentioned previously, my VPN connection to the Robertson/Sherwood/Architects server and my new desktop workstation in the RSA office works well. I’ve added improvements here at home, including my powerful Lenovo Thinkpad laptop and the LED panel light (for video conferencing) I recently purchased. I still need a new, more ergonomic chair, but overall my home setup has served me very well.
Another benefit is the opportunity to interact with my wife throughout the day. She’s retired but busies herself with her hobbies. Before COVID, I typically would run home for lunch each day to spend time with her, but that always seemed rushed. We can now chat spontaneously whenever I get up for a break to stretch and give my eyes a rest. If good weather favors us and the mood strikes, we can choose to go for a walk together in the neighborhood for some exercise. Such opportunities didn’t exist when I spent my all-too-frequent ten-plus hours of the day at the office. Work and life are in better balance now, thanks to the flexibility working from home affords.
Working from home also means not wasting time commuting to our office downtown. Granted, my commute is/was quick by most measures, being only 2.5 miles or about ten minutes long with traffic each way. Regardless, that meant commuting consumed forty minutes of each workday, including the time I would drive to home and back for lunch. Additionally, the necessity of social distancing has strictly limited the number of face-to-face meetings with clients or contractors—these are now mostly confined to project site visits—further reducing the amount of my time behind the wheel and the wear and tear on my car, not to mention my contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. (1)
The most obvious shortcoming of the current situation is the toll it takes upon camaraderie and our feeling of being a cohesive team. Ensuring our collaborative work culture remains strong and intact is thus a priority. Whether we’re adequately addressing this need is an open question. Teamwork and collaboration are essential to the practice of architecture, as are spontaneous interactions and impromptu conversations.
The problem is particularly acute when it comes to onboarding a new employee, especially if he or she is relatively new to the profession. We brought on a new hire last fall, and she’s been a quick learner and great to work with. We do owe it to her to do everything we can to nurture her sense of belonging with Robertson/Sherwood/Architects. It’s in our best interest to check in with her regularly and provide continuing and regular opportunities for her to learn from the experience of everyone on our team.
Sometime later this year after administration of vaccinations is widespread and the worst of the pandemic is behind us, working remotely will transition from being a necessity to a choice. Many companies may be eager to get their employees back on-site full-time, but many others may consider the possibility of shifting to a new hybrid model combining in-person and at-home work. According to a Gallup poll from last October, two-thirds of U.S. workers who have been working remotely during the pandemic would like to continue to do so. Of this number, 35% simply prefer working from home, regardless of the presence of a deadly virus. The new normal post-COVID will likely be one in which many employees will enjoy at least some flexibility with their work arrangements.
Conference Room design, post-COVID; click to enlarge (image from Steelcase.com)
A shift toward such flexibility has significant implications for the future of commercial offices. Initially, I believed these would include a lessened demand for new office space and cancellation of some projects currently in the pipeline because businesses envision staff continuing to work from home, even if only part-time. I imagined hot-desking and hoteling strategies wherein employees are not permanently assigned workstations or private offices gaining traction. Having since read several recent articles on the topic of the post-COVID-19 workplace, I now am of the opinion the need for central workplaces will not disappear anytime soon. Why? Even if fewer staff return to the office full-time, they will be spaced farther apart in response to what we now know about how infections are spread. So, a smaller number of employees may still occupy the same amount of space or require even more to maintain a safe personal distance.
As for the design of new office buildings, they are likely to incorporate wider corridors, advanced air filtration systems, an increased reliance on natural ventilation, occupancy maximums on elevators, touchless controls, and directional signage within common areas and office spaces.
Though the demand for office space may not lessen, the reduced workday population in our cities will adversely impact the businesses that provide office workers with convenient goods and services, notably nearby restaurants and food carts. I can’t predict the other long-term implications, but I suspect the shakeout will not end simply with the retreat of the coronavirus.
Robertson/Sherwood/Architects’ current office space is long and narrow, and our workstations are adequately separated so we can maintain social distancing. We can also open windows to invite fresh air though our suite, and the majority of our “high-touch” surfaces can easily be sanitized. We have entertained the idea of finding ourselves a new office, one which showcases our design sensibility and cranks up our abilities a notch. If we do eventually move (or remodel our existing space), we’ll certainly think in terms of how the way we work is evolving and implement post-COVD measures that underscore the importance of feeling healthy and safe. Crucially, I expect we would focus on creating an office environment that reflects who we are. In this respect, our office would serve first and foremost as our cultural hub, essential to instilling a shared sense of identity. As our firm transitions to a new generation of leadership, clearing defining that identity will be critical.
Despite the fact many of us enjoy working from home, the bottom line is we do also miss seeing each other in the office. As this linked article from Steelcase puts it so aptly, we miss “the intrinsic human experience of working together—face-to-face—in spaces that were designed specifically to foster the creativity, agility, and innovation that organizations need to be truly productive and grow.”
COVID-19 has been our wakeup call; we’re shaken by the realization that future pandemics are inevitable. The lesson we have learned is their deadly toll may be kept in check if we obey science and implement sound principles aimed at controlling the spread of pathogens. The pandemic has accelerated the evolution of our places of work toward a new paradigm. By separating us, COVID-19 has ironically compelled us to think deeply about why teamwork is so important. Coming together in the workplace to socialize and collaborate is the greatest purpose our shared offices fulfill.
(1) According to numerous sources, the dramatic reduction in vehicle trips upon enactment of the lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders resulted in markedly reduced levels of air pollution attributable to a reduction in workers commuting (here’s a CNN report from last April). Since then, pollution has surged as cities around the world push to reopen even in the face of new, more virulent strains of the virus.
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