NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
WORKPLACE TRENDS
CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
The Workplace Trends annual conference included some innovative ideas for the long-term future of the
workplace which facilities managers could be well advised to consider says Sara Bean
Workplace Trend’s flagship
October conference should
have taken place at the National
Gallery, but due to the pandemic
switched to an online platform,
chaired by Mark Catchlove of
Herman Miller Insight Group. The
theme of the day, “Success in
Uncertain Times” was certainly
very apt and although the
agenda comprised a broad mix
of topics, including home and
agile working, the future of real
estate and understanding change
management; as the final speaker
of the day, Neil Usher remarked,
we really spent the whole day
thinking about change in all its
fascinating ways.
In an inspired bit of
programme planning,
for the opening session, Tim Oldman,
founder and CEO of Leesman presented
data from Leesman’s working from
home survey and how it related to the
rest of the day’s topics. His revelation
that the majority (82 per cent) of sta
agreed that their home working setting
allows them to work productively
compared to 62 per cent in the o ice
suggests there are some serious longterm
decisions to be made about the
state of the workplace.
Oldman warned that FM has some
massive challenges. Over the last 10
years the sector had distanced itself
from the services side of the job, for
example cleaning, but now more than
ever is embracing these operational
aspects. He concluded that employers
need to cultivate a much deeper
understanding of how employees are
coping with home and hybrid working,
or risk ‘sentiment dri ’.
Delving deeper into the Leesman
research shows that the satisfaction
rates of home workers is dependent
on a wide range of factors. In his
10 NOVEMBER 2020
examination of long term WFH, Guy
Osmond of Osmond Ergonomics
outlined why it’s important to examine
the individual needs of workers, from
their personal circumstances to their
personality type.
He explained there is an enormous
variation in home working. It’s very
pleasant for those working in a study
with a view across a field but not so
great if you’re sharing with flatmates or
in a bedsit and can’t get away from your
work area. Worryingly
he also reported seeing a
marked increase in the number of
people with musculoskeletal disorders
who never had any issues prior to the
pandemic. He advised that rather than
organisations providing loans to sta to
source their own ergonomic desks and
chairs that it’s le to the experts in FM
to manage.
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Employers’ legal responsibility for
health and safety was considered in
an eye-opening session by Simon
Joyston-Bechal of Turnstone Law who
looked at working from home and how
far employers’ duties extend. There
was so much to process in this session
that Joyston-Bechal will produce a full
report on the legal aspects of COVID-19
in the Workplace in the December issue
of FMJ.
While for some of those WFH, the
absence of o ice noise is a blessing, for
others it’s something they badly miss.
In his presentation on open plan o ices
and advances in acoustics, Jack Harvie-
Clark of Apex Acoustics acknowledged
that individuals have a wide range of
tolerances for noise and disclosed that
those who are missing the soundtrack
to the workplace can now download
playlists to imitate o ice noises.
In a session which went to the heart
of growing concerns about mental
health, Sarwat Tasneem, the founder of
14-Consulting, focused on maintaining
a healthy workforce. Tasneem, a trained
architect and an expert in Behavioural
Change, advised that mental wellbeing
must be driven by leadership. Currently
we’re all being informed by external
powers that we have to adjust our
way of life, she said. But while workers
may be reporting they’re being more
e icient, is enforced WFH helping
their wellbeing? It’s more important
than ever she advised for managers to
foster a sense of belonging by building
collaboration and making people feel
part of a team.
STAYING CONNECTED
A discussion session between workplace
strategist and thinkers, Nigel Oseland
of Workplace Unlimited and Marie
Puybaraud of JLL Corporate Solutions
on the future of the o ice unearthed
some particularly thought-provoking
concepts.
Work is in the cloud, which has
resulted in a liquid workforce, said
Puybaraud who noted that CRE
is following two distinctive paths,
defensive and o ensive. The short-term
defensive path is by watching and
waiting to see what will happen, with
a plan to return to o ice by the end of
2021 without envisaging a massive level
of dispersal. By contrast, those favouring
the o ensive approach take a longer
view, by “deconstructing the notion of
the workplace, bringing in elasticity,
and actively listening to the workforce
to plan for a more hybrid model of
working from anywhere.” However, for
the present, as Oseland observed, “the
issue is that we’ve been plunged into a
new way of working but we need some
management and training on how to
deal with it.”
Wrapping up the day, author, blogger
& GoSpace Chief Workplace O icer Neil
Usher explored seven key areas in which
the dominant notion of the 21st Century
workplace has been entirely flipped
during the turbulent year of 2020.
He noted that every aspect of the
workplace industry has been geared
around the idea of static environments
which is in complete opposition to the
element of change. We sense change all
around us now he said, which is better
as “normal is boring”.
It’s the first time in history we’re able
to work together without being in the
same physical space, a ording us one
amongst a series of places where we
can work. Excitingly, this gives us the
potential to untether ourselves from
the notion of “normal old money”.
For example, instead of looking at the
working week in a sculpted way, with
mid-week being collaboration days and
Friday’s being working from home days,
why don’t we style it depending on what
we need to do each day?
With so many of us now working from
home and dodging the long commute
there is an opportunity to really focus
on the communities we live in and
instead of designing our o ices for full
occupancy, wake up to the impossibility
of every worker being in the workplace
all at once, for they never are. From
a sustainability point of view alone
the traditional o ice behemoth is not
environmentally responsible which
is why “going forward this means we
should design only what we need and
release the rest.”
Given that the pandemic isn’t going
away soon, workplace managers, FMs
and CRE have got some breathing space
to consider the longer term, strategic
view. As Puybaraud concluded,
“O ensive is a long path but the
best in my opinion as I’m a long-time
advocate of the transformation of the
workplace. Like Neil, I think that normal
is boring.”