Who needs to be back in the office vs who wants to be back?
BY GILBERT LENNOX-KING HBREAVIS.COM
We spoke to Gilbert Lennox-King about the future and importance of tech within the workplace. Gilbert joined HB Reavis in 2020 as Sales Director in the UK, leading activities for HB Reavis’ own technology platform, Symbiosy. Symbiosy is designed to enable excellent workspace management, boost cooperation and productivity. He has spent most of his career leading energy and technology implementation programmes in commercial buildings in Asia and the UK.
Over the past year, we’ve learnt the value of good technology platforms and how they could impact on our ability to work and collaborate in order to achieve what we want to as organisations. The challenge now is how, as workplace professionals, do we demonstrate the tangible value of the workplace and how we can bring the digital and physical worlds together to generate more business value.
At a strategic information level, what we saw was an increased silo effect, where teams liaised with their normal connections and not outside of their traditional connections. We managed to ‘see’ this through a combination of our integrations with Microsoft workplace analytics and indoor positioning data (see graphic, page 27).
Businesses could rethink their workspace strategy according to the desired business outcomes they may want to encourage. For example, businesses may elect to take a more central office with a smaller footprint and have it designed almost exclusively for meetings in a ‘hub and club’ type model, managed carefully with some type of desk booking app to avoid overcrowding and supplemented with other satellite offices closer to a majority of teams. They may elect to use machine learning algorithms to nudge or encourage certain office visits for certain purposes, like reinforcing strategic connections.
Businesses can use live data to make the most out of their workspace investment. Doing this enables you to achieve 24/7 transparency into how your space requirements are changing according to new ways of working. Software tools, for example desk booking apps, can enable your organisation to manage a safer return to work by supporting social distancing and ensuring maximum density levels are not breached.
It is no longer a 'nice to have'. Transparency on air quality, cleanliness, touchless technologies, mobile apps for entry, monitoring and desk booking are all fast becoming necessities – due to safety concerns, people want control, they want to see how densely populated the office will be, they want to book spaces beside colleagues if they are only coming in a couple of days a week.
The intentionality and choice of whether team members make office visits will mean that technology will be required to make the most of those experiences.
The past year has been unusual for all. Are there certain personality types which have thrived or suffered with the current “norm”?
In other words, who should really be in the office? We looked at two important things: Firstly, which team held many physical meetings in the past? This is a good determinant of demand for physical space. Secondly, which departments decreased their communication the most after the lockdown? Decreasing numbers of conversations might be a sign of losing track of the organisation.
Some teams with few previous meetings responded to COVID-19 with increased e-mail communication (Writers) while others found more time to focus (Watchers). Teams with many previous meetings also faced the pandemic differently. Some of them intensified digital interactions (Solvers), while others were involved in fewer e-mail interactions than before – perhaps a preference for physical communication (Talkers). We can argue that Talkers are a vulnerable group. Their daily routines might have been adversely affected by the pandemic or they might have become less involved in company developments. Therefore, it is advisable for the IT-Data & Application team to have a prioritised place in the office for their work and for other colleagues who might need them.
Not having any type of workplace technology in place right now opens up occupiers to a myriad of risks in relation to their workspace; questions such as: How do I know that the air we breathe isn’t making my employees ill? How can I guarantee that social distancing measures are going to be achievable without a real time density booking and forecasting tool? How can I ensure that the space is being cleaned? How do I make the most out of my real estate investment to achieve the right business outcomes?
Providing a return on investment figure on a physically connected company is like asking the question of what is the value of a good internet connected company? We all know the value of a good one, and a lack of connection… well now more than ever, we know it’s bad for business.