{"id":32867,"date":"2021-08-11T07:11:39","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T11:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/?p=32867"},"modified":"2023-09-01T14:55:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T18:55:35","slug":"the-office-needs-to-become-hybrid-friendly-4-tips-for-getting-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/blog\/the-office-needs-to-become-hybrid-friendly-4-tips-for-getting-started\/","title":{"rendered":"The Office Needs To Become Hybrid-Friendly: 4 Tips For Getting Started"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this segment of \u201cOffice Optional with Larry English<\/a>,\u201d Larry has four tips for how to structure your organization to be a hybrid-friendly environment.<\/h2>\n
\n

After compensation, the No. 1 thing employees care about in 2021 is flexibility. This comes from a global study of workers by The Future Forum<\/a>, a Slack consortium, which found that overwhelmingly, knowledge workers want flexibility in their schedule (93 percent) and where they work (76 percent).<\/p>\n

For most companies, the office will be key to achieving that balance. But not the office of yesteryear. As companies hammer out their hybrid workplace strategy<\/a>, they\u2019re rethinking the role of the office<\/a>, envisioning a new model for how it energizes workers and reinforces culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wants the office to go back to how it was pre-COVID,\u201d says Ira Sharfin, CEO of Continental Office, a commercial design and workplace solutions firm. \u201cPeople want choices in where and how they work. They want to use the office for collaboration, socialization, mentorship and inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

This insight comes not only from Sharfin\u2019s work with clients but also from a recent Continental Office survey<\/a>, which found that while 85 percent of employees want the choice of remote work, 76 percent also want the office to remain a part of their work experience.<\/p>\n

Sharfin offers the following tips for reinventing the office for 2021 and beyond.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n
\n Interested in implementing hybrid work at your organization?\n <\/div>\n
\n \n\n We can help\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

Dig into what your employees actually want.<\/h2>\n

Before making any decisions about how the office will be used, Sharfin suggests that companies gather data from employees. What\u2019s important to them? How do they work best? How do they see themselves using the office? Likely, you\u2019ll have some employees who want to come in full-time, others who want to be remote full-time and a large chunk who want a mix.<\/p>\n

Quartz<\/a>, for example, recently decided to let employees work from anywhere. But the company still had a year left on its New York City office, so before reopening, it surveyed employees to see how they\u2019d want to use the space. Not surprisingly, 0 percent wanted to come in full-time, but some did still want the option, with most saying a few days each week would be ideal.<\/strong> Quartz used that data to create a new framework for how the office is used.<\/p>\n

Expand your concept of flexibility.<\/h2>\n

Flexibility isn\u2019t just about the choice of working from the office or home. It\u2019s about having choice within those settings, as well.<\/p>\n

Sharfin suggests companies think about redesigning the office to give employees different work environments \u2013 think a mix of shared workstations, couches or lounge seating and private phone booths.<\/strong> Making these changes will likely mean reducing cubicle and private office spaces. This shouldn\u2019t be a problem, as most employees will not be using the office for 100 percent of their future work modes.<\/p>\n

Upon reopening, Quartz did away with assigned seating, opting for hot desks so employees could have options for where they sit, who they sit by and even whether they use a desk at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who say they don\u2019t want to ever come back to the office, it\u2019s because the office is uninspiring,\u201d Sharfin says. \u201cInstead, think of the new office like an adult student union. There\u2019s a vibe, there\u2019s people working with their headphones in while others are meeting. Those are the types of spaces that people gravitate toward, because they feel good and they\u2019re inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Give people space to be human.<\/h2>\n

When people work from home, they can step away from their computer, take a break to meditate, re-center or take care of their mental health<\/a>. Working from home allows employees to be human, rather than automatons.<\/p>\n

The office needs to allow space for employees to be human, too.<\/strong> Sharfin says many companies are installing a wellness or respite room, which can be as simple as outfitting a small office with some inviting furniture and soothing lighting. \u201cThese rooms are important to show people you care, and it doesn\u2019t take a lot,\u201d Sharfin says, noting that leaders may have to model using the room to help employees feel comfortable taking breaks in the office.<\/p>\n

Invest in tech to make the office hybrid-friendly.<\/h2>\n

Technology is more important than ever in a hybrid workplace<\/a>. For one, technology allows distributed workers to seamlessly collaborate, whether that means through a platform like Microsoft Teams<\/a> or software that facilitates meetings with a mix of on-site and off-premise workers.<\/p>\n

Technology can also make the office a more inviting place to work. \u201cIt\u2019s important to allow people to easily plug in, no matter where they\u2019re working in the office,\u201d Sharfin says.<\/strong> \u201cThe less friction you have for using the office, printers, etc., the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, Sharfin says there are many inexpensive ways to make the office hybrid-friendly<\/a>. If companies get rid of dedicated desks, for example, a simple app can let employees reserve a workstation or a conference room for the day. Sharfin says some companies are also letting people see who has booked space so they can more easily plan to come in when their teammates or work friends will be on site.<\/p>\n

Can you afford not to redesign your office?<\/h2>\n

Companies may be hesitant to dive in to redesigning their space. After all, if there\u2019s anything we learned in 2020, it\u2019s that the future is unknowable.<\/p>\n

Although it does require an investment to start evolving the office, Sharfin says getting started doesn\u2019t have to mean overhauling the entire space or making permanent changes. \u201cYou can test changes out in a small area and use prefab interior products to create conference rooms and offices, which would be easily convertible,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

Plus, there\u2019s a very real cost to getting it wrong \u2013 namely that many employees are already looking for greener pastures<\/a>, and it costs a lot to recruit and train someone new.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies need to invest more in workplace strategy,\u201d Sharfin says. \u201cThey need to step back and think more broadly about the purpose of the office. What do you really need and what do your people need? Is your space inspiring people and helping them do great work and share ideas?\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally featured on Forbes.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In order to compete in the job market, companies must consider employee needs when developing hybrid workplace strategies. See more about what the needs are here at Centric Consulting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":32869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20871],"coauthors":[15095],"class_list":["post-32867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-office-optional","resource-categories-blogs","orbitmedia_post_topic-hybrid-remote-workplaces","orbitmedia_post_topic-office-optional"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-09-19 04:59:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32867"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}