Will Less Be More in the Workplace of the Future?
By Barry Nathan
Date
May 6, 2020
Firms of all kinds are now inclined to consider whether the offices they shut down in the face of the pandemic are the appropriate size for a workforce grown accustomed to conducting business at home. The question on the minds of many leaders is whether or not the size of their office should remain the same after the pandemic; the answer is not yet clear, especially in the absence of concrete data from real life scenarios.
The needs and expectations of employees have shifted for the foreseeable future, and so too should the physical environments they inhabit. To simply turn the lights back on and assume things will appear ‘normal’, or ‘just as before’, seems unreasonable. One safe assumption is that there will likely be a shift back to greater amounts of personal space, along with a reconsideration of shared common space. Assuming that having less people in the office should equal less square foot of office space per person is a simplification of the issue that may prove useful in the short term, but troublesome for the future.
To begin answering the essential question of people and space in the post-pandemic workplace, the following should be actioned:
- Analyze the present state of our virtual office environments
- Survey remote workers to understand the pros and cons of their experience working from home to determine which practice groups are best suited for remote working in future
- Leverage technology, ergonomics and workstyles to assist the development of appropriate budgets for home-office design
- Develop the metrics and test planning best suited to understand the implications of the future state of work
With this information gathered, firms can begin to establish plans for a phased return to work, along with a set of changes and improvements intended to optimize the workplace.
It will be very intriguing to revisit this discussion in future, in order to understand whether our plans for returning to work produced lasting shifts in our collective understanding of the workplace, or if it was just a short-lived blip in human history that we are in a hurry to forget.
Barry Nathan has over 30 years of experience in both architectural and interior design, which has given him an enviable understanding of two areas of practice. His work is comprised of both large scale commercial clients and complex public spaces, including higher education and high-rise residential projects. Alternative design approaches have allowed Barry to provide very unique and creative solutions for progressive thinking clients. His adeptness at problem solving via innovative solutions has helped many clients succeed in their goals. He is always challenging the status quo with an alternative view. Some of Barry’s past awards include the Design Exchange and ARIDO Awards for Pearson Airport, Denton’s Toronto and the Bell Wireless Centre in Mississauga. He is in the process of finalizing his Architectural License with the OAA and has memberships with the TSA and ASID.
Barry Nathan has over 30 years of experience in both architectural and interior design, which has given him an enviable understanding of two areas of practice. His work is comprised of both large scale commercial clients and complex public spaces, including higher education and high-rise residential projects. Alternative design approaches have allowed Barry to provide very unique and creative solutions for progressive thinking clients. His adeptness at problem solving via innovative solutions has helped many clients succeed in their goals. He is always challenging the status quo with an alternative view. Some of Barry’s past awards include the Design Exchange and ARIDO Awards for Pearson Airport, Denton’s Toronto and the Bell Wireless Centre in Mississauga. He is in the process of finalizing his Architectural License with the OAA and has memberships with the TSA and ASID.
