In a short space of time, remote working has gone from being the exception to becoming an integral part of professional life. Yet there is a growing realisation that working from home is not for everyone
Remote working has quickly evolved from being the exception to becoming an integral part of professional life. Nevertheless, there is a growing realisation that working from home is not the best solution for everyone or for every task. The future of work may therefore not lie in a choice between home and the office, but in a well-thought-out combination of both.
Those who need to concentrate on their work may benefit more from the peace and quiet of their own home. For consultation, collaboration and informal interactions, on the other hand, the office can offer clear added value. This is precisely where the challenge lies for employers: encouraging employees to return to the office makes little sense if that workplace adds hardly anything to what can be achieved at home.
A noisy open-plan office, a lack of privacy or constantly changing workstations are not necessarily conducive to productivity. Moreover, an office designed for occasional attendance is not automatically suitable as a daily workplace. Anyone expecting greater attendance must therefore also invest in an environment where people can collaborate effectively and work with concentration.
That does not mean we have to return to the situation we had before the pandemic. Recent years have made it clear that much work can also be done remotely and that flexibility is valuable. But they have equally shown that work is more than just carrying out tasks. Contact with colleagues, spontaneous conversations and the feeling of being part of a team are more difficult to organise when everyone is constantly working remotely.
The future therefore does not lie in a battle between working from home and working in the office. The real question is simpler: where is the best place for an employee to work at any given moment? The office of the future will not be a mandatory end point to the working day, but a place where people go because that environment actually offers added value at that particular moment.