It wouldn’t be an underestimation to say that the work environment has changed forever due to COVID-19. As well as the fact that the vast majority of businesses out there have faced financial problems and have potentially had to cut back on their workforce, no doubt the last twelve months has been the most significant and potentially traumatic time period for the modern business. Right now, there may not be any sign of returning to normality. But when it comes to imagining how the work or change after COVID, we’ve got to look at the office environment. But also, we need to think about what attitudes will change. Let’s show you some of the potential changes.
- The Changes to the Office
The workplace environment will be different. While we have all settled into some sort of groove with regards to working from home, the office hasn’t been done away with forever. The workplace will change, but it won’t have a complete overhaul. There will be things that, when workers go back to the office, will be implemented. For example, there may be temperature checks, social distancing, and the familiar components that we’re all aware of. But also, the office will focus more on community and interaction. There’s been a lot in the way of office sharing and coworking, especially for freelancers.
And the future of the office environment may be more about the community aspect rather than productivity. There will be more office space dedicated to socializing rather than an individual approach. Ultimately, we’ve had to work our way around collaboration, and the initial parts of 2020 meant that we struggled to get this in place. But now, the office environment will have a proper mixture of conference rooms and meeting spaces, but also the idea of the office will be for workers to take advantage of being in the same location. As many people have now realized that there is only so much they can do from home, despite their best efforts, now there will be a more balanced approach to collaboration. People will work from home more because now there’s been proof that it can be done. But now human interaction will be prioritized over anything else.
- Video Calls Are Here to Stay
Everybody has already had their fair share of video call frustrations. But now with the fact that there have been so many changes to a business, and that working from home has gone on for so long, that video calls are here to stay. But in addition to this, because of the demand for internet providers to incorporate faster speeds, and fix internet problems straight away, the quality of video calls will increase.
There are issues that everyone has experienced, but it is not just about using video calls as a way to have meetings. There have been examples of businesses that have used video as a way to improve morale. And this is something that will make a big difference. Workers have become used to seeing each other at home, and therefore the personal life and work-life balance have blended into one. And as technology has given us the opportunity to communicate with each other better, there will be a significant mixture of in the office and at home. The video call will be the thing that ties everyone together.
- Flexibility Is More of a Priority Than Ever
People figured out how to work from home pretty quickly. And this is for the very simple reason that they had to! When life begins to return to normal people will decide to stay home, and this will force businesses to become more flexible. Many people have had a taste of working from home, and some have got on with it, but some haven’t. Regardless, people are now feeling that they cannot go back to the way life was. There has been a massive increase in companies hiring people permanently on a remote basis. This isn’t anything that came about in light of the pandemic. It was already going that way prior to COVID-19. And for a while, professionals were enjoying their commute from the bed to the kitchen, businesses have found that people working from home is proving to be profitable.
Remote work won’t take precedence over the office, but flexibility will help people to choose whether they want to or not. There are many reasons people prefer the office. In fact, there are some professionals that have missed the commute, not to mention the fact that people are missing that human connection. Flexibility is something that people have been demanding for years, and it only seemed that the smaller agencies and savvier companies were pushing for flexibility. Now it appears to have gone much further than most anticipated.
- E-Learning Will Become Widespread
If you looked at the swathe of companies that were providing free learning at the outset of the pandemic, whether it was to help people develop skills having lost their jobs, or to stave off boredom, e-learning is a boon for many people. While most businesses have incorporated e-learning in some form, businesses are now realizing just how important upskilling is to have a strategic advantage. While many organizations used corporate learning in the form of seminars or workshops, e-learning will become a bigger part of the learning process. While e-learning is a very useful component due to it being easy to access, that’s not to say that in-person learning programs will disappear. Face-to-face learning will very likely be a smaller part of a wider curriculum.
E-learning becomes beneficial in so many ways. Not least because of the fact that employees will be widely scattered, and not in one location. While the technology has improved to meet the demands of people working at home, it is the webinar and interactive online training where we will see a big difference. Many workshop leaders have had to conduct training through online programs. And as best as they have done to make it an interactive component, one of the benefits of using this approach is that it can be recorded and viewed at the convenience of the learner. Convenience will be a big part of e-learning, but while many businesses have used the learning, now, the importance of quality training materials that are easy to access and easy to absorb is essential.
- Focus on Well-Being
Many companies have been forward-thinking in this respect prior to the pandemic, but now it becomes a priority. Due to individuals working from home on a constant basis, now it has seen many individuals experiencing frustrations and anger, not to mention their mental health being impacted as a result of what is going on. Now going forward businesses will look at incorporating well-being. They may look at it in ways such as incorporating a well-being hour and making it a permanent fixture. While many companies have already incorporated the idea of a duvet day, where the worker stays at home to rest and recuperate, this will be more front and center.
While people working from home are experiencing benefits in many aspects of their lives, they are not always benefiting from that human interaction. But this is where the workplace can become a key environment for employees to join together, either to enjoy the benefit of human interaction or to actually have proper conversations with their line managers. Quite possibly one of the downfalls of working from home for men is that they feel they are on their own. While everybody is feeling the same way, it doesn’t excuse the fact that the company needs to do more to incorporate well-being into the culture of the business. Policies and procedures were in place, but now it is all to do with human well-being.
- End to Business Attire
Could you picture yourself going back to the office wearing a constricting suit? Everybody has got comfortable working in their natural attire. And there is a lot to be said for the benefits of being dressed up because it can have a positive impact on your productivity. However, many firms have already brought in a dress down policy.
Some companies have stated that you can dress as you wish, but if you’re meeting with clients you will have to wear a suit. This is nothing new. Many digital agencies have already incorporated the smart casual approach, and many businesses in the tech industry have never seen a tie enter the front door!
The work environment has changed, not completely. But you might argue that things may very well return to the way they were in a few years’ time. But as the fact remains that the tide is turning, that with the combination of demand for people to have a bit more freedom in their working lives, as well as the fact that flexibility, combined with the fact that the technology infrastructure has shown that businesses can definitely keep afloat, it is for these reasons that the work environment is unlikely to return to its old ways.
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