by Lauri Goodman Lampson
If the pandemic years have taught us anything, it is that flexibility in workplace policies, procedures, and physically designated spaces are all critical to an organization’s ability to thrive. For years prior to the pandemic, many businesses were offering remote work to certain employees, while others were experimenting with hybrid work arrangements. When COVID-19 struck, the hybrid and work-from-home trends spread rapidly, and technology designed to connect remote workers advanced with comparative light-year speed. A survey by research firm McKinsey found that COVID-19 sped up digital transformation and technologies by several years.
Hybrid work solutions have proven to be not only practical but critical in the face of deep staffing shortages – much of it prompted by people demanding greater work/life balance. This is reflective of a cherished value that many workers have shared but only recently have begun to demand from their bosses. And now, the idea that people should have more independence and choice in how, when, and where they work is being honored by companies that are embracing the hybrid work model. In fact, some companies are celebrating the new model as an opportunity to be more productive and agile.
Flexibility: The New Mantra
Clearly, flexibility is the new mantra for workplace design. Enlightened executives, partnering with forward-thinking design specialists, are leading the way with a rethinking of work arrangements, which not only puts them ahead of the curve when it comes to attracting and retaining skilled talent; it also assures they are future-ready.
The new thinking changes the normal job environment paradigm from static, sterile, cubicles to one that provides the ability to adjust on the fly, and treats specific strategies as pilot programs and experiments. This way, organizations can try out work area layouts and designs that match the evolving needs and desires of workers while also keeping pace with marketplace competition; and when a conceptual approach needs to quickly transition into another, the organization can respond with built-in resilience.
In this case organizations might consider a modular systems design – an exciting new trend – where collaborative team spaces that support intense brainstorming and creativity can easily transform into solo seats, and meeting rooms can reconfigure into private offices. This is the perfect expression of the new hybrid model.
To satisfy the new mindset of workers returning to the office, best-in-class office buildings should also plan for amenity-rich base elements such as food, fitness, and connections to the neighborhood and the outdoors; and landlord-provided service functions for gathering and for receiving clients.
Hybrid Thinking for Hybrid Workspaces
PDR’s alignment with hybrid work models has led us to adopt a new perspective that leads the way toward future-resilient solutions for our clients, known as Hybrid Thinking. By balancing seemingly opposing concepts that are exponentially better together than in isolation, we improve what matters to organizations: people, business, ideas, and decisions. We inculcate these four components into our design programming process, and keep them in balance after gaining a keen understanding of each client’s ideal vision of the what, how, and primarily why, of their people, business, ideas, and decisions.
Human sustainability is one of the keynotes of Hybrid Thinking. Workers today are fleeing from what they perceive as drab, repetitive, and routine jobs that offer little meaning to their lives and for which they have no personal stake. To counteract this trend, PDR helps companies define who they are, how their employees work together, and what they want to become. We ask our clients to identify where employees are physically located, how they communicate with each other and with customers, and how they effectively accommodate remote workers for every meeting.
We also survey employees for their vision of the ideal working spaces. In general, PDR has found that employees want more control over when and where they perform tasks. They enjoy collaborating and socializing, yet they also need private areas for independent attention to focused tasks.
The results of applying PDR’s Hybrid Thinking to workspace design can greatly influence a company’s success in four critical areas: Human Sustainability, Inside-out Perspective, Radical Innovation, and Augmented Intelligence.
Gauging Success
It’s obvious that hybrid work must put humans first in terms of space planning. Successfully achieved, company leaders are well on their way to developing an intentional strategy that successfully balances stable space with flexible space – an ideal scenario for managing the future of work and what we refer to as Inside Out Perspective.
Regarding Augmented Intelligence, a recent Forbes article states, “Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to permeate our daily lives by 2025.” We must ensure that human intellect gives context to decisions about AI, and hence, the two are balanced in designated workspaces.
Hybrid Thinking used to design hybrid workspaces achieve a natural balance between productivity and creativity. Leadership then has free rein to embrace change rather than merely react to it. Radical Innovation is thus achieved, whereby companies aren’t resorting to solely keeping up with the competition, but setting the pace.
Combined with a policy that encourages employees to easily move around to find the best setting for whatever they are doing, the hybrid model provides optimal flexibility, contributes to a high-performing team, and gives companies confidence that they are prepared for the unpredictability of the future.
As president and CEO of PDR, Lauri leads an integrated practice of architecture, design and workplace strategies to help business leaders better position their companies for the future. Throughout her nearly 30-year career at PDR, Lauri has worked from inside her clients’ offices, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Hines, HP, and Sonos, to help create innovative workplaces that deliver better human experiences and results.