Why We Need the Office - And What its Future Will Be

Amid the speculation that Covid-19 will write off our need for office space, we explore why the office will remain a necessary facet to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

As soon as the Government announced its lockdown restrictions on the UK, articles suggesting that Covid-19 was going to spell the end of the office quickly began trending. The conversation was largely fuelled by one motivated week of novelty, the dreaminess of a cancelled commute and for some, the joy of getting to work from home after years of employers’ reluctance. 

While the idea’s sensationalism invites a quick click, believing that offices will become unnecessary downplays their physical purpose and entirely ignores their social necessity.

As the world of work evolves, how can you stay competitive?

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Our physical need for office space

In 2007, the first iPhone acclimatised our minds to constant and instant updates – both personal and professional. Even on our commute home, our working day continued to ping in our pocket. Work was no longer strictly reserved for the office.

By 2008, laptop sales outstripped PC sales in the US. On-the-go working was not only considered a new normal, but a prestigious freedom that signified your importance. 

Writing in The Atlantic, Amanda Mull recalls, “At work, receiving a laptop became a status symbol. It showed that you were a person worth investing in at a regular company, or that you had found a way into the booming, then-mysterious tech industry”.

Fast forward on, hustle culture and the gig economy have catalysed our ability to call anywhere with an internet connection a workstation. It has become impossible to disconnect from our jobs – a problem bizarrely confused with ambition.

But a physical office – one that is separate from our homes – does a fantastic job of implementing a much-needed barrier between work and home life. In its simplest form, it’s a space to keep your laptop overnight so that a problem received at 9 pm can be tackled with a well-rested mind at 9 am the following day. 

Remote working, on the other hand, gives way to an unhealthy and imagined pressure that we ought to be constantly available; that the 9 pm problem must be tackled as soon as we discover it because our laptop is within arm's reach.

As the days of working from home continue, this separation is a luxury we will continue to miss, as our inability to disconnect can have profound implications on our productivity – and at its worst, lead to burnout.

In fact, as Laura M. Giurge and Vanessa K. Bohns write in The Harvard Business Review, “WFH Burnout” is the newly coined term for how “the lines between work and non-work are blurring in new and unusual ways”.

What’s more, our remote workstations are likely to be kitchen tables surrounded by demanding families, unsupportive chairs and temperamental internet connections that struggle to uphold the software we are so heavily relying on to stay in touch. 

Many of us simply don’t have the right equipment to work from home well. Dining tables and couches are not designed to inspire productivity, credibility and staff-retention. But many offices are.

If, when working from home, you have longed for the big monitor you had in the office, tried to stretch out a dull ache in your back or pined for the plant-filled breakout space that once gave you a burst of motivation, you are not alone.

Our social need for office space

Humans are social creatures, we thrive on feeling connected to a wider network. That’s why Amanda Lim, Head of Knight Frank’s Flexible Office Solutions suggests the current crisis won’t eliminate the need for office space, it will help us appreciate its social value.

She explains, “The ability to work from home – while a headline-grabbing perk – has its downfalls. It forces you to miss out on the community-feel and the social aspect of working with your colleagues”.

Considering loneliness is one of the most pervasive complaints among remote workers, the micro-interactions employees enjoy in a shared office space – even on a quiet day – can go a long way in helping us feel connected.

That's why we encourage you not to skimp on any virtual water-cooler chat. Small talk isn't just small talk, it's a reminder that we have someone to talk to.

But beyond making us feel alone, remote working can impose an additional type of isolation. As we’ve discussed in our blog Managing Remote Teams: 8 Mistakes to Avoid, tone of voice, facial expressions and context can get lost in translation when teams aren’t sat side-by-side. 

We tend to personalise blunt messages if we cannot see the circumstances in which they were sent: a stressed sigh or the tense demands from above.

Amanda Lim continues, “Coworking centres, serviced offices and even private studios allow us to have valuable face-to-face interactions – full of context – with those we work with. Sharing a space with your team ensures you have the vital mutual knowledge to stay motivated and give difficult situations the benefit of the doubt”.

We took for granted hearing our teammates moan, feeling totally in the loop, popping over to colleagues' desks and surprising our team with chocolate treats.

While they might sound trivial, these social touchpoints can be the difference between feeling like you have a meaningful place in your work-sphere and feeling like you’re on the side-lines.

Offices will fulfil our innate need to celebrate the human elements of business: empathy, humour, creativity and innovation.

Amanda Lim

Head of Flexible Office Solutions

What will the future of office space be?

While success stories of remote working might sway companies to reduce the amount of office space they sign up for, the overall need for a physical meeting point will continue to triumph.

For those of us cooped up in small flats, we’ve entertained the idea of moving further out into the suburbs in search for more space – perhaps higher ceilings, a study and even our very own garden. 

But while trading the inner-city bustle for something greener can offer a slower pace, innovative projects and exciting businesses aren’t likely to follow suit, which means that we’ll be pulled back in – only this time – weathering a longer, more expensive commute.

That’s why businesses will need to make their workplaces more attractive – they’ll need to offer a return on investment for employees embracing the commute.

Businesses that thrive will be those offering the best of both worlds: a truly agile working model that embraces working from home (and provides the right equipment for it), or a satellite office on the outskirts of a city or an appreciation that a headquarters is a meeting place, not a siloed desk to clock in and out of.

As Amanda Lim explains, “The function of the office will change to be more collaborative – it will be used to get face-to-face, discuss new ideas and collectively problem-solve. It will be a place to tackle things we’d struggle to tackle by ourselves”.

This shift, paired with the adoption of technology, will make menial, repetitive tasks a thing of the past. Offices will fulfil our innate need to celebrate the human elements of business: empathy, humour, creativity and innovation.

The revolution of flexible office space

Office space has moved from being a product to a space as a service. The evolution has been largely influenced by customer service, flexibility and an appreciation that the space we work in can attract, retain and nurture talent – which can in turn boost our company’s bottom-line. 

In particular, today's flexible offices are intended to create value from within – from biophilic design through to breakout spaces, from zen rooms through to sit-stand desks.

It's no surprise that 44% of 120 global companies believe flexible office space will make up a fifth of their office space in the next three years.

With the most cited reasons being ‘increased flexibility’, ‘a greater sense of community’ and ‘greater speed to becoming operational’, businesses truly appreciate that office space can be used as a strategic device. Three quarters of respondents also said they thought productivity, wellbeing and happiness would increase with a shift to a flexible workspace.

And in uncertain times like these, the benefit of ‘flexibility’ is paramount. Typical notice periods for flexible offices are just two to three months. And as a testament to their focus on customer service, flexible office space providers have been highly accommodating on a case-by-case basis, with many of them offering discounted rent proposals for the next one to six months. 

While safety trumps our longing to return, and preventative measures will need to be implemented within offices, Covid-19 won’t spell the end of office space, it will make us grateful for it.