Over the weekend The Instances printed an article headlined “The ‘super-prime’ places of work designed to lure WFH workers again in”. It described how companies are reshaping places of work within the picture of upmarket inns, with engaging options comparable to gyms, childcare, cinemas, climbing partitions, lounges and eating places (run by Gordon Ramsay natch). These are luxurious areas to make the workplace definitely worth the commute, because the cliché goes. Though the writer concedes that that is largely a London phenomenon within the UK, the implication is that places of work all over the place should ape this workplace design strategy to a point to satisfy the calls for of the post-covid workforce. That is compelling stuff and never the primary time you should have heard the argument. However, is it true?
I’m unsure it’s and for a few causes. The primary is that what I hear from organisations is that the fundamental perform and construction of the post-covid workplace is similar to what went earlier than. Issues have modified in some ways, and we’re nonetheless in extraordinarily unsure instances, however even main blue-chip companies inform me that the desk with chair stays the important thing construction of the office. The panelled, staircase within the foyer sweeps you first to an workplace, not the cocktail lounge. That’s on the 24the ground. The health club is within the basement subsequent to the bike park.
The second is a characteristic of the workplace market that endures and predates lockdown. The case research and speaking factors you see within the media aren’t mirrored in what individuals and companies really purchase. The majority of the market is conservative, unadventurous and value delicate. At the very least one of the crucial profitable workplace furnishings makers within the UK (I gained’t title anyone. I’ve completed that earlier than and regretted it) makes furnishings that may have been acquainted to me after I was a advertising pup within the business within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. Essentially the most talked about companies are beneath them within the league desk. A few of them are approach down.
This isn’t a zero-sum sport and there’s no doubt the market is shifting in response to altering calls for. The companies that purchase L-shaped workstations with fastened pedestals are extra doubtless than they had been to have a breakout area, acoustic pods and sit-stand desks. However nonetheless. They don’t seem to be changing their places of work into inns simply but.
Nor ought to they. Nevertheless, beguiling it may be to assume that the Leadenhall Constructing is the blueprint for the post-lockdown office, what it actually creates is a lure. The belief could result in choices taken that don’t match or mirror an organization’s tradition or one it aspires to and will not even mirror the wants and expectations of the individuals who work for it. The office-as-hotel may enchantment to many, however not all people. The precise workplace design is what works.
This highlights the nice apex fallacy of office design and it’s one in all which we needs to be very cautious, particularly these of us within the media. We have now the flexibility to design the office in no matter approach works greatest for every circumstance, together with having no workplace in any respect. So we must not ever assume that anyone thought is a common resolution whether or not that’s an earthly however completely acceptable open plan stuffed with MFC tops and blue carpets or an incongruous facsimile of one thing extraordinary we’re informed or consider will make us look a specific approach, clear up an issue or meet a specific goal.
Bookmarks
Is human knowledge sufficient?
What Will Stay for Individuals to Do?
Everybody I do know is frightened about work
The numerous fallacies of ‘AI gained’t take your job, however somebody utilizing AI will’
This Is How Meta AI Staffers Deemed Extra Than 7 Million Books to Have No “Financial Worth”
Unbelievable – by Colin Newlyn – Decrapify Work
