Prediction 1: A Return to Human
MCM’s findings identified that, during lockdown, many people practiced (for the first time) a true work/life balance. Connecting with family, communities, nature, friends – managing their own time and still working productively. People do not want to go back to an imbalance of work and very little of life. A Return to Human is a path and priority for organisations to create a culture that positively affects physical and mental wellbeing – to look after their people.
‘Employers that offer a tailored approach, placing people at the centre of employment policies, organisational and management structures that encourage freedom of work/life balance, will have a positive impact on their people,’ Jon continues. ‘This will, in turn, result in a more motivated workforce, leading ultimately to better business results.’
Prediction 2: The Radial Office
The Radial Office is about giving staff a choice of how and where they work. It is an evolution of agile working, responding to both the positive and negative reactions enforced by remote working during lockdown. MCM’s research found that the experience of working from home was great for some and not ideal for others. However, almost everyone supported the desire to stop commuting every day.
‘Our findings showed that, for many organisations, performance and productivity didn’t fall off a cliff when employees were out of sight,’ MCM Director, Ken Giannini, says. ‘Significant cost savings were made, providing a compelling reason to carefully look at how businesses can re-imagine their structures and their real estate location strategies.’
MCM proposes that this concept will provide businesses with the opportunity to redefine their portfolio of work locations to three types of workspace – giving staff a choice of commuting to a central HQ type hub office, working locally in a regional small drop-in office or working from home.
The firm predicts that most organisations will have smaller city offices or ‘central hubs’, providing space for social interaction, collaboration, client engagement, mentoring or activities not practical for home or local hubs. In turn, this downsize will see an increase in the demand for regional or local hubs and home workspaces at the same time.
Ken notes the benefits: ‘The Radial Office will re-ignite local communities when we see underutilised spaces such as retail spaces converted to local work hubs and more people at home supporting local economies – not to mention the benefits that less commuting has on the environment and energy consumption.’