{"id":12318,"date":"2021-04-28T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/"},"modified":"2023-06-11T14:44:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T18:44:14","slug":"re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"color: #444444;\">With the option of returning to physical office spaces coming ever closer, companies are beginning to think more carefully about what office life should look like. In particular, business leaders are assessing the advantages and disadvantages of various answers to the following questions. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> Who (if anyone) will be required to come into the office?<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> When will they be required to come in?<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> Why will they be required to come in?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Answers to the first two of these questions are discussed by Lauren Hirsch and Matthew Haag in their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/05\/business\/office-workers-return-dates.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Times article<\/a>. For example, it was noted that <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.spotify.com\/2021-02-12\/distributed-first-is-the-future-of-work-at-spotify\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a> recently launched their \u201cWork From Anywhere\u201d initiative, which will allow any of its 6,550 employees to work from wherever they want. On the hybrid side of the tripartite divide, Revolut, a banking start-up based in London is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/08\/business\/revolut-bank-work-abroad.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> by the New York Times as planning to allow its more than 2,000 employees to work abroad for up to two months a year. Google will be enacting a different approach to hybrid work schedules with their \u201cflexible workweeks\u201d during which employees will spend at least three days a week in the office and the rest at home. Finally, on the everyone in the office side, companies like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase expect most employees to return to the office for most of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #444444;\">As can be seen based on the variety of strategies listed above, there is no one size fits all solution. So, how can you determine which strategy is right for your particular business? Here are some questions to consider when making that decision.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> <strong>Did your employees enjoy working from home?<\/strong> Some people like working from home and others don\u2019t. Nicolas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University, attempted to investigate this experimentally in order to find out just how many people are on each side. Bloom\u2019s <span style=\"color: #f47920;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2021\/08\/dont-force-people-to-come-back-to-the-office-full-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a><\/span> found that 30 percent of U.S. employees never want to return to working in the office, while 25 percent never want to spend another day working from home. Understanding the attitudes that your particular workforce has towards remote work could go a long way towards determining what makes the most sense for your business.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> <strong>How did remote work impact job performance?<\/strong> Employers should examine whether productivity improved or worsened for each position. If there exists a big disparity in terms of the effects of remote work on the productivity of employees in various positions at your company, this may be a reason not to require everyone to come in for the same amount of time, or on the same days.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> <strong>What is the culture of your company? <\/strong>Companies should choose strategies that align with and promote their culture. For example, as Brodie Boland notes in his article, companies that value talent development \u201cshould ask whether the small moments of mentorship that happen in an office can continue spontaneously in a digital world.\u201d To the degree that they can\u2019t, there will be a need for employees to come in, at least part of the time.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> <strong>What kinds of interactions are required for your employees to do their jobs well? <\/strong>Some interactions are more difficult than others to replicate in a digital format. Among those that are more difficult to replicate are what Bloom refers to as \u201cbounce interactions\u201d and \u201csocial interactions.\u201d Bounce interactions involve \u201cnew idea generation, as with an impromptu whiteboard brainstorming session.\u201d Because idea generation can be particularly cognitively demanding, and because video chatting can be <a style=\"color: #444444;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/news\/zoom-anxiety-has-become-an-epidemic-in-itself-and-it-really-sucks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #f47920;\">anxiety-provoking<\/span><\/a> and mentally draining, the qualities of the ideas put forward might suffer. And when it comes to purely social interactions, they aren\u2019t the same when filtered through a screen. To the extent that these interactions are required to boost company morale and preserve work culture, in-person social interaction will be essential.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> <strong>Do you need access to a wider pool of talent? <\/strong>Prior to remote working, companies were more limited when it came to the pools of talent from which they could pick employers. If a competitive applicant wasn\u2019t located within a commutable distance or willing to move to such a location, they wouldn\u2019t have been able to accept a job offer. By offering remote or mostly remote work, employers can gain access to a much larger group of skilled applicants.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #444444;\"> <strong>What impact would your return-to-office strategy have on socio-economic disparities? <\/strong>Some potentially popular strategies are at risk of negatively impacting historically disadvantaged groups. For example, according to Bloom, forming strategies which let everyone chose for themselves where and when they want to work will have a disparate impact on women. In a <span style=\"color: #f47920;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wfhresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/w28731-3-May-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a><\/span> conducted by Bloom, it was found that women want to work from home almost 50% more than men do. In another <span style=\"color: #f47920;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/siepr.stanford.edu\/publications\/policy-brief\/hybrid-future-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a><\/span>, Bloom found remote employees had a 50% lower rate of promotion after twenty-one months than their colleagues in the office. Collectively, this means that the let-them-choose approach might result in women being offered fewer promotions just because they are working from home. Employers should be on the lookout for outcomes like these when forming their return-to-office strategies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the option of returning to physical office spaces comes ever closer, it is important for employers to begin thinking about what office life should look like going forward. This week, Wellable reviews the most popular strategies for reimaging the office and offers advice on how you can determine which one is right for your company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-holistic-workplace-wellness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.6 (Yoast SEO v24.8.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World | Wellable<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the option of returning to physical office spaces comes ever closer, it is important for employers to begin thinking about what office life should look like going forward. This week, Wellable reviews the most popular strategies for reimaging the office and offers advice on how you can determine which one is right for your company.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World | Wellable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the option of returning to physical office spaces comes ever closer, it is important for employers to begin thinking about what office life should look like going forward. This week, Wellable reviews the most popular strategies for reimaging the office and offers advice on how you can determine which one is right for your company.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wellable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GetWellable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-28T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-11T18:44:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote%20work%20vs%20office.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"651\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"501\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Wellable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@getwellable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@getwellable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Wellable\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World | Wellable","description":"As the option of returning to physical office spaces comes ever closer, it is important for employers to begin thinking about what office life should look like going forward. This week, Wellable reviews the most popular strategies for reimaging the office and offers advice on how you can determine which one is right for your company.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World | Wellable","og_description":"As the option of returning to physical office spaces comes ever closer, it is important for employers to begin thinking about what office life should look like going forward. This week, Wellable reviews the most popular strategies for reimaging the office and offers advice on how you can determine which one is right for your company.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/","og_site_name":"Wellable","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GetWellable\/","article_published_time":"2021-04-28T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-11T18:44:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":651,"height":501,"url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote work vs office.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Wellable","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@getwellable","twitter_site":"@getwellable","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Wellable","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/"},"author":{"name":"Wellable","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c042b5403e555f4cd545a365023e71"},"headline":"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World","datePublished":"2021-04-28T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-11T18:44:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/"},"wordCount":849,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote work vs office.png","articleSection":["COVID-19","Holistic Workplace Wellness"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/","name":"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World | Wellable","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote work vs office.png","datePublished":"2021-04-28T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-11T18:44:14+00:00","description":"As the option of returning to physical office spaces comes ever closer, it is important for employers to begin thinking about what office life should look like going forward. This week, Wellable reviews the most popular strategies for reimaging the office and offers advice on how you can determine which one is right for your company.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote work vs office.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote work vs office.png","width":651,"height":501},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/re-envisioning-the-office-for-a-post-pandemic-world\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Re-Envisioning The Office For A Post-Pandemic World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/","name":"Wellable","description":"Latest Research &amp; News in Wellness","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#organization","name":"Wellable","url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/favicon-wellable.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/favicon-wellable.webp","width":155,"height":157,"caption":"Wellable"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GetWellable\/","https:\/\/x.com\/getwellable","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/wellable-inc-\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCtTLlvZR-tKRBcb32l-rFXg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c042b5403e555f4cd545a365023e71","name":"Wellable","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef55908793ea28069cb18e15eaaf0f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef55908793ea28069cb18e15eaaf0f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Wellable"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/34.168.145.72"],"url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/author\/wellable-admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Remote work vs office.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12318"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23505,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12318\/revisions\/23505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}