Off the back of our previous article, we received a couple of interesting questions around how companies can find their way forward in this still murky “where do we work from?” space. We decided to answer publicly with a blog, to share the love and hope everyone can get something useful to help craft a solution that works for them.
Before we give our thoughts (and one or two examples of how we’ve tackled these issues), two quick but important notes on ways of working:
- There is no definitive roadmap or single right answer (though there are probably a few obvious wrong ones!) when it comes to how a twenty-twenties workplace should run. Every business and situation are unique. Legalities, requirements, and possibilities vary from location to location, from sector to sector, and from one person to another. It’s important to remind ourselves that we’re still living in unprecedented times where trial, success, and error are a way of life. We are all guinea pigs of the “new normal”. So try to remember…
- … you’ll never please everybody. Because “pleasing everybody” is impossible. So don’t aim for that. Instead, aim to let people know that you’re genuinely listening to them and acting on what they say as reasonably and responsively as you can. The very act of valuing your colleagues’ opinions is often just as (if not more) meaningful than being able to provide absolutely everything they ask for.
Okay. Time for a bit of Solvd Together Q&A.
1. How do you plan for office size? Have you gone for a co-working space with hot desks?
Once upon a time, most staff worked from a specific, static location. So, naturally, a sensible business would select a premises that was fit for purpose considering their headcount and people needs, balancing their sizing strategy and growth forecast against square footage and lease options.
Fit for purpose is the key thing here. The purpose of premises has drastically changed. Before, it was “the place where most people do their job”. Now, with the realisation that many people can do their job from… well, anywhere… the role of premises has changed.
It’s important to pause and take stock at this point — and figure out the role of premises for your business, and for your people. Obviously, if you run a shop, you may well need space for production, transaction, and storage, as well as customers and staff. But if your premises has traditionally served more of a clerical purpose, perhaps it’s time to rethink what you need.
Rule 1: Ask your people what they want
Your people are instrumental in figuring out what you need to provide for them. Put some time into conducting surveys, or run some town halls, or even away days/retreats with solution-focused discovery workshops (Solvd have a load of free, ready-made resources for this sort of stuff here — fill your boots). Ask people where they’d like to work from, when they’d like to work, and how they’d like to work. Do they want to hot desk or would they prefer a dedicated space they can call their own? How do they feel about shared offices? What do they need from the office? A collaborative space to work together? A quiet space to reflect and get their head down? Both? Do they really need a ping pong table?
Let them be part of building their own solution — this is more important (by far) than any “Zoom drinks” events you might organise to get them on board. Empowering your people (and of course balancing this against the practical needs of your business) is incredibly valuable and gives colleagues a sense of shared responsibility and control.
Odds are you’ll get a mixed bag of answers — because people are all different. Some will want to WFH all the time. Some will be craving full on socialising in the office. Some will want a mix that they can balance against their life responsibilities (picking kids up, walking the dog, going to the gym etc.). Some will feel a commute is pointless — others will value the connectivity.
Our advice here is to let your people — and the needs of their work — lead, and design a solution that makes hard demands as little as possible. A great example here is that of set hybrid working (e.g. “all staff must attend the office Mon, Weds, and Fri”) versus more flexible working (e.g. “You’ll need to take part in physical meet-ups as required by the nature of your work — there are tools in place to organise this and the office is here to support these sessions”). Why demand that people must be in the office on certain days if there’s no real need? Instead, put methods in place to let teams organise their collaborative time according to their work/people-led requirements.
Try to remember, too, that your office doesn’t have to be just one kind of place. Many companies have zoned larger offices for colleagues to book the kind of space they need, when they need it. Creative zones, quiet zones, treadmill desk zones, collaborative zones, meeting zones, presentation zones — again, entirely led by the needs of their people.
FYI: An example of how we’re doing it at Solvd:
We’re a flexible organisation by nature — Charlie and Morten started the company 4 months before the first lockdown in the UK, when working in an office literally was not an option. We’ve sought feedback from people all along the way as we’ve grown, and now we have a fit for purpose office space in London and a “work from anywhere” policy. Colleagues generally come and go as they please; it’s a great space for us to gather for team days or workshops, as well as being equipped for long-distance colleagues to dial in with top digital conferencing tech. We let each other know when we’re going to be in or not, we plan team days in advance to give each other as much notice as possible, and we collaboratively designed our office space with creative ideas from each team member to bring “a little bit of everybody” into the office environment, even if they can’t physically be there.
2. Are people choosing to come into the office? If not, are the additional activities you’re running enough to keep people motivated?
This isn’t so much a question of “where are people working from?”. After all, with the right setup (designed by your people, for your people), your office will be a magnet, not a mandate. Some people will choose to come in and be highly engaged and motivated. And some will choose not to come in… and still be highly engaged and motivated.
This is more a question of: “How do you create a culture of engagement and motivation when you don’t have everyone in one place?”
Let’s begin with what feels like a timely reminder. Many, many… MANY… businesses have operated with all their staff together under one roof, and their culture of motivation, engagement, and general satisfaction has been disastrously poor. Physical proximity is not (and never has been) a magic solution for a thriving work culture. Indeed, companies that have led the way with stellar cultures in the past did not achieve that through four walls and a roof.
That aside — it’s still a valid concern. How do you build a company culture, and keep staff engaged, motivated, and productive, if they’re not physically together all the time? Is it all about cocktail making nights and painting classes over Hangouts? Must we resort to the dreaded “funtivities” — because who doesn’t love mandatory fun activities? Or is culture a lost cause in the face of the new normal?
… of course is isn’t 🙂
Rule 2: Ask your people what they want
We live in an era of communication — so let’s communicate. Ask people what they want their working culture to look like. What makes them happy? What empowers them to do their best work? What obstacles stand in their way — and how can you remove them? How often do they want to see each other? What do they want to do when they see each other? What do they need from you to feel cared for, supported, and empowered in their role?
“Culture” can feel like a bit of a vast beast to tackle. As we said earlier, every business (and every person in it!) is different. What makes a good culture differs from place to place, and person to person. But, generally, there are 3 similarities across workplaces described as having a thriving culture — so why not group your lines of question into these 3 areas?
- How can we enable you to do your most purposeful, impactful work?
- How can we support you with your mental, physical, and emotional health?
- How can we facilitate your meaningful growth and development?
Again — surveys, team days, group workshops, retreats — all great opportunities to make this happen. Listen to what your people say. Collate their responses and identify themes that you can capitalise on to design working solutions that nurture your culture (again, Solvd have plenty of free resources on this). Keep your people’s input at the core of your thinking and you can’t go far wrong.
Also — and this is very important. Remember that nothing is permanent. Your colleagues may well tell you they want more cocktail making sessions, you put something regular in place, and you find the numbers drop after the fourth week. That’s because nobody knows the answers yet. We’re still figuring things out together.
Because of this, ensure you check in with your people regularly. A one off “how should we build our culture?” survey isn’t going to cut it. Create regular touch points and ask people how it’s going — are they enjoying the solutions you’ve put in place? Are they working more effectively? Are they feeling supported — or coerced? Are they “funtivity-fatigued”? We’d recommend this at an official level on at least a quarterly basis to make sure you’re connecting with the pulse of your people — and reminding them that you’re listening and acting on their behalf. But also — have conversations with them. Chatting-in-the-corridor style conversations. A 10-minute Teams call to catch up. Stand ups, town halls — however you do it, communicate with your people.
FYI: An example of how we’re doing it at Solvd:
We run a mix of team working days, team fun days, and team social events in person with lots of notice to make sure as many colleagues as possible can make them. It’s so nice to get together every now and then! More regularly, we run twice-weekly team check-ins on Teams. On these check-ins, we all go through a “how are we doing?” checklist, so folks can share what they’re working on, what they’re proud of, where they need support, and what’s inspired them. We all have our own theme songs (we’re not joking). We each share “vibe” scores with each other (how we’re doing on a scale of 1–5, 5 being awesome) and if anyone is struggling, we communally ask if or how we can support them. We even track these vibe scores on a spreadsheet and compare it with our resource/workflow, so we can catch any times work may be impacting the general happiness of the team and do something about it! We also have a virtual end of the week get together with drinks and online games (like Drawasaurus) to celebrate and switch off for the weekend.
Rule 3: Ask your people what they want
We really are living in weird times. There’s no roadmap, no right way of doing things. Some practitioners say one thing, some say another. Businesses announce changes to their working policies and they end up making headlines — rightly or wrongly. The great resignation is proving that ignorance of this issue is costly.
Depending on the kind of person you are, this is either an intimidating time, or a fun and exciting one. Business, it feels, was done a particular way in& the before. But the doors on location, hours, personal freedoms, expectations, what work looks like… have been blown wide open. There’s an uncharted working landscape out there, fresh and highly individualised. It’s a chance to do something truly different.
So yes. There is no roadmap. But there is a guide. Your people.
We’re so used to googling the answers. We live in a world of search engines and Wikipedia articles and thought-leadership and Forbes recommendations. We’re not used to looking to our people. And we’re not used to the rather heavy responsibility of going our own way in a world where every other opinion counts.
Therefore (and we promise we appreciate the irony of this appearing as an online thought-leadership style blog!), we’d really encourage you to look to your people. Continue to communicate with them.
Ask. Listen. Act. Repeat.
Let your colleagues be instrumental in the building of a working solution that is, ultimately, all about them.
You probably won’t end up working in the way everybody else does. But you’ll end up working in the way that’s right for your business.
And, most importantly, for your people.
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