Having restored the office as a hub for community and connectivity, next consider the role that co-working spaces could play in value generation across your ecosystems. This could combine space management with the intentional use of co-working spaces not as simple overflow but to co-locate your teams with partners for deep collaboration. An option perhaps particularly well-suited to business units working to a project or product-based model where space needs fluctuate depending on the stage of work being complete. Whilst not a new phenomenon, co-working spaces will continue to change the look-and-feel of our cities and suburbs. Indeed, as the need for corporate HQ space reduces by up to 40%, Stefan Behnisch is an architect tipping many companies to consider making HQs mixed-purpose buildings, adding residential areas to reduced office/retail allocations. Might we see a new employee benefit category emerge, providing discounted corporate accommodation schemes to entice talent back into cities?

This indicates that remote/hybrid leadership models need to account for the impact of multiple factors beyond the workplace in assessing not just the productivity of employees, but the suitability of the future workplace mix available to them. Trust appears to be the underpinning factor here – those with decision making authority being trusted to use it, those without potentially being put under the microscope.

Many companies making successful transitions to remote/hybrid work models have focused training on both managers and workers. IKEA, for example, delivered over 2M hours of training in 2020, much of it focused on remote/hybrid work training for managers and workers. Evidence grows that under-prepared managers resort to task-based management principles when they can’t see their teams. Consider using the opportunity to change the focus of productivity metrics in your organisation – place wellbeing, return on ideas and collaboration at the core of management practice.