Fringe Benefits of the Future: Working in Offices

Today, four-, five-member families are forced to live and work continuously together in these tight spaces that are designed for limited time leisure, sometime for sleep only. The space is small, the “ergonomics” of the chairs and tables (if there are enough of them) are not convenient for whole day sitting and office working. A great real-life example is somebody using the ironing table for office desk, while sitting on a bed, in a rented apartment that originally was only meant to be slept in. The home internet connection speeds are sized to serve occasional surfing, social media activities.

In these circumstances, this year has been an enormous trial for human relationships. For a small community (a family, a couple) that never really lived together it is a real test how they can spend 24 hours a day together for a whole year or more. More than simply spending this time together, they are being tested on respecting each other’s need for peace and privacy for working and learning. They are challenged to share the limited resources of internet connections, video conferencing tools in a way that each family member can participate in the most important meetings, classes and can perform adequately in the work or in school.

This requires the highest level of empathy, attention and love from each family member. This year has been the real test, whether the family members can and want to live together, whether they can tolerate each other in these circumstances.

There are now many who would like to opt out. The issue they are facing is that the main tangible asset the family owns is the flat they share. If they want to split, they might not have enough savings to buy 2 new accommodations instead of the current one flat. So, they stay. Mentally injured, burnt out, surrounded by unsupportive, many times hostile members of the same family, locked up together 24/7 as long as it lasts. And it will last.

Suffering from being locked in is not limited to families. People living alone are in an equally detrimental situation: they have been blocked from social contacts for more than a year. As the pain of loneliness is described, “The worst moods are reported when one is alone …. The lack of structure of those hours is devastating. Why is solitude such a negative experience? The answer is that keeping order in the mind from within is very difficult.” (M. Csikszentmihalyi)

We need to accept that not everyone is a highly trained individual in keeping his or her own company. Many are fighting social anxieties and might need professional support either to return to the society or to stay where they are, alone in their flats.

The Young Generation

Children, students are cut from their social contacts. When I remember my university years, I rarely recall those hours when I was intensively concentrating on my studies, alone in my room – although I truly enjoyed them and this might have been the activity that I spent most time with. The nicest memories that I identify with the 5 years spent in university are the ones spent in concerts and other events in the university clubs, partying, sitting on the steps of the fountain in front of the building or in a bar with our mates and discussing the ways we would change the world. This is what university means to me, from a nearly 30-year retrospective.

However, this seeming maintenance of performance has a price. There is no more differentiation between work time and private time. Even if all the trainings delivered by HR tell you that you should keep your daily schedule, and strictly separate worktime and private time. The same communication will also excuse you, if you don’t happen to be able to perform your tasks during working hours, you can work any time it fits you. Indeed: you might not be able to work in the morning hours at all, because your children are “in” school and they take all the internet capacity, plus they need to use your notebook to connect to their virtual classes. But no worries, you can compensate for this during the night. And you do. Thus, corporate functions are content how efficiently the workforce can perform from home offices. It is a seemingly win-win situation. But is it really?

So far, corporate ears have been mostly deaf to words like ‘digital exhaustion’ (have you noticed how this word has become fashionable in the past month?), burn outs, social anxiety. Many organizations keep repeating how the employees are content working from home offices and listing the benefits of this arrangement.

The home office perspective of corporate decision makers fundamentally differs from those who they decide about – of the average office employees: the living conditions and private technical equipment on the different hierarchy levels are rarely comparable.

Facts by Research

Microsoft has recently published a detailed research report, which should serve as a wake-up call for companies.

The major findings of the research are the following:

With over 40 percent of the global workforce considering leaving their employer this year, a thoughtful approach to hybrid work will be critical for attracting and retaining diverse talent.

With so much change upending people over the past year, employees are reevaluating priorities, home bases, and their entire lives. So, whether it’s due to fewer networking or career advancement opportunities, a new calling, pent-up demand, or a host of pandemic-related struggles, more people are considering their next move. The way companies approach the next phase of work …. will impact who stays, who goes, and who ultimately seeks to join your company.”

The take-away after more than a year hybrid working:

1. Flexible work is here to stay
2. Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call
3. High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce
4. Gen Z is at risk and will need to be re-energized
5. Shrinking networks are endangering innovation
6. Authenticity will spur productivity and wellbeing
7. Talent is everywhere in a hybrid work world

Fringe Benefits of the Future: Office Spaces

Yet, the majority of employees will want to have an office. They will want to have real flexible working: flexible meaning that they can choose when they work and where; hybrid meaning that they work partially in the office, partially from home.

We are humans, we still want to meet each other. The fastest and most efficient way for working on a project is still having the involved individuals physically sit around one table at the same time, without any external disturbances.

In the future, company offices might become such attractive fringe benefits for employees, as company cars have been so far.

Those companies, who can offer physical office spaces to the migrating workforce will have the unbeatable competitive advantage on the employer market.