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Is it time to go back to the office? Most companies have put in place COVID safe protocols to ensure that their employees are safe in the workplace.

The size of the workplace, the number of employees and the industry that you work in will determine the approach to the situation. However, this can vary greatly from company to company. So, what can you expect to change in your workplace in 2021? Let’s take a look.

Staggered start times

With employees slowly coming back in to the office, you may find your start times changing. Staggered start times, other than reducing the potential spread of coronavirus, give employees more freedom to choose work hours that suit them. Whether you want to squeeze in exercise before work, or prefer to start early and make the most of your afternoons, the choice is yours.

Downsizing office space

Many large companies have realised that leasing an office in the CBD is not as necessary as they might once had thought. Knowing that their employees can work autonomously and still produce the same output, can allow companies to save the money spent on inner city office leasing. By downsizing to a smaller office means that the only employees in-house are those that require face-to-face interactions or meetings.

The ‘Work from Anywhere’ approach

Don’t forget there are companies that may have decided to completely rid themselves of an office to take up the ‘work from anywhere’ approach.

Raj Choudhury, associate professor at the Harvard Business School, says cutting edge companies have embraced this approach with their full-time employees.

“It starts from the intern who just joined yesterday, to the CEO himself, or herself, working from anywhere. These are all full-time permanent workers,” Choudhury explains. Embracing the ‘work from anywhere’ approach means you can have job security and flexibility.

Hybrid office and WFH

The benefits that working from home bring are obvious. No commuting, cost saving, increased work life balance and more time to spend doing the things you enjoy. But there are also down sides to working from home. No social interactions, ‘zoom’ or ‘teams’ fatigue, collaborating is harder and the ability to clearly communicate can become blurred.

So, can a hybrid office be the perfect solution? Cushman and Wakefield seem to think so. They believe that an office requires the "right balance of remote work," rather than completely moving towards an office free setup. "Which employees can and should work remotely most effectively,” Cushman and Wakefield explain should be the big question.

With a good mix of days from home and days in the office, the team can still get their dose of socialising and collaboration, work effectively in a team and have the benefits of WFH on certain days.

Now that 2021 has come around, and the push to get things back to a COVID ‘normal’ is in place at most workplaces, Speller are beginning to move back to the office. How? We’ll be doing this in stages however, as a relatively small team, the transition back may be easier than in larger corporations. How has your office moved forward in 2021?

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