WAH Solution’s Investor and Chairman, Steve Endacott, ponders the future of home and office working following the changes that have arisen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like many people, my working week has changed dramatically due to Covid-19 lockdowns
My weekly commutes from Manchester to London, to spend three days a week in the offices of various business interests have stopped and I now wonder if they ever need to start again.
We have all adapted to breaking our days into hour long blocks and slotting in Zoom or Microsoft Teams video calls to deal with specific business topics. Ironically, this has made it easier for my investments to access my time and advice, exactly when they need it, rather than when I can be in their area.
I have also found it much easier to organise calls with the staff I need to drive projects forward, as coordinating hourly availability from people working from home seems to be ten times easier than trying to do the same in an office environment.
Perhaps we have all got better at time management, when you know the next call starts precisely in an hour and you cannot dawdle over discussions. Alternately, it may be that key staff are spending less time out of the office commuting to external meetings, now these are also being handled by video.
Homeworking as a concept is now proven and many businesses are planning a mix of home and office working, with the balance between the two often dictated by the average distance of staff commutes. Having a strong mix of homeworking also greatly increases the ability to recruit talent from the whole of the UK and international locations too.
Homeworking however does present its own unique but common issues
Our houses were designed as living spaces, to support our lives outside of the work environment and often do not offer dedicated office space for one person working from home, let alone two or occasionally four, five or more when kids home tuition is factored in.
How many Zoom calls are made from kitchens or quiet bedrooms? Not exactly ideal work environments and ones that can easily blur the lines between work and home to an uncomfortable level.
I believe that soon business will be forced by their duty of care for staff, to carry out audits on “Homeworking Spaces” and start providing grants or financial assistance to improve them.
This is why I have already invested in the start-up business focused on the space, WAH Solutions (WAH = Working at Home) which delivers pre-built “Garden Office Pods”, that offer “plug and play” offices to be located in employees gardens.
I’m also looking at the other end of the chain at what the offices of the future may look like?
Zoom meetings may be adequate for “pure” business meetings, but how will businesses bond their management teams, drive innovation or build strong relationships with suppliers and customers moving forward?
I believe that there will be many more conferences and industry forums required, with the social aspects of doing business becoming forefront of mind.
Radically and slightly off the wall, we may even see pubs evolve further. We have already seen most become “hybrid” pub-restaurants, so what’s to stop inner-city pubs also offering branded office space.
Pubs could offer branded booths or areas in the pub, that are rented out by business for their staff during the day to make Zoom calls, have small internal meetings or host supplier or customer meetings. Drinks may need to be restricted to coffee during working hours, but the same spaces could be used for social activities post work, with staff and guests able to enjoy a beer together.
If you have not yet started drafting your plans for a work environment including homeworking, you may find you staff moving to a business that has. This aspect of the future is both clear and here.
The office may still be needed to drive innovation, spot the next young thing and create cohesion, but working out how to do this whilst keeping those who have enjoyed working from home happy and without the massive cost of a large office, needs to be a strategic objective for various businesses during the next year.