Office Work Will Never Be The Same

For many of us, the location of where we do our work has changed, maybe for good. Vox’s Rani Molla recently penned, 10 Ways Office Work Will Never Be The Same to give us a glimpse into what has shifted. Here are some of our key takeaways:

• Working from home is working surprisingly well for both employers and employees. The savings of time and cost is no longer a perk; it is an expectation.

• Multiple studies show that workers are just as productive or even more productive at home as at the office. This likely means that how we measure productivity needs to change, perhaps from quantitative toward qualitative.

• Office spaces will become geared toward collaborative work, designed as “a tool in our toolkit for getting certain kinds of work done.” Spaces will now focus on types of work that benefit from cooperative energy like brainstorming and problem-solving.

• It’s challenging to make and retain a company culture when workers aren’t in the same room. Management must be intentional with connecting people across the organization, beyond just with direct colleagues.

• You don’t come out of seeing your coworkers at home—their living rooms, their babies, and their pets—without getting a little closer to them. And such closeness makes people happier and better at work. The reality “that technology actually made us more human is a fascinating thought.”