The Covid-19 pandemic radically accelerated the trend towards hybrid and remote working practices. It forced businesses, which would under normal circumstances never contemplate remote work, in this direction. The pandemic increased the pace towards hybrid or remote work practices in businesses that are already pursuing this.
The NXTmove business design trend analysis revealed that companies, especially those highly dependent on young super intellectuals and other highly skilled and talented individuals, have placed the workplace at the forefront of their business design efforts and energy long before the Covid 19 pandemic.
Businesses within the Consulting and Information Technology industries that completed the NXTmove design assessment indicated that workplace was their number one design area priority.
When conducting the assessments, these businesses may have focused more on creating workspaces at hubs or campuses that looked after every need of their employees, including wellness, health, social and fun. Before the pandemic, remote working may not have received the level of attention it does now.
As businesses find their way in the post-pandemic world, it is easy to see that the old, traditional, “nine to five,” “1-hour lunch break” office is a thing of the past. The business design will, more than ever before, focus on the workplace with all its complexities and ramifications on the “broader” organization. Redesigning the workplace requires redesigning the entire organization, from leadership to communication and everything in between. It challenges the actual concept of the organization, its meaning, and its intention.
It’s a wonderful time for renewal and reinvention and finding new ways of working, producing, socializing, sharing, learning, caring, communicating, connecting, creating, monitoring, rewarding, leading, and living. It is a function of leadership.
Author: Chris Laubscher