Introducing Workwell PCS. Part 1: People

Welcome to part one of our series of three insight articles, introducing you to the thinking behind Workwell’s People Climate Society approach towards developing new ways of working and workplace strategy.

Why ‘People’?  

You might think it goes without saying. Which organisation would develop ways of working without prioritising people? Why would any business design a workplace without people’s needs at the forefront? The workplace design term ‘people-centric’ or ‘human-centric workplace’ is not new. But in many cases the new workplace has not prioritised people. They don’t support individual differences in workstyles or personality, nor do they encourage health or wellbeing. This can be counterproductive - frustrated, unhappy people tend not to be motivated or high performing.  

Why now? 

The sudden and wholesale switch to home working at the beginning of pandemic lockdowns resulted in the focus moving towards the individual, away from teams and wider businesses. People started working a lot more independently as they didn’t want to keep bothering colleagues via chat channels. Or they were totally ‘Zoomed out’ after endless video meetings. Hence the birth of the ‘micro silo’.  Businesses used to see departmental or team silos as an obstacle. Going one step further, the micro silo is characterised by a move away from collaborative team work and towards independent work. People are increasingly working alone, consulting with others less, refraining from developing ideas or making decisions together, identifying less with their business and more with themselves.  

With the extra time gained from not commuting, and even with working an average 30 minutes longer a day (Bloom et al, 2022) they started getting more sleep, more exercise, cooking fresh food, and spending more time with their families. Cue the new era of worklife balance, with the emphasis now firmly in the ‘life’ camp rather than the ‘work’ camp.  

As a result of all that solo working, people’s focus is set squarely on themself as an individual. They are more in tune with and assertive about what they want and need for their wellbeing. And if their needs aren’t met, they’ll go and work somewhere else where they are. So organisations need to provide for health and wellbeing far more than they have done in the past. 

While businesses will benefit from happy, healthy employees, there may need to be some readjustment to ensure that organisational cultures remain strong, that collaboration does not die, and a shared sense of purpose and belonging is built through good teamwork and working relationships.  

Focusing on mental health. 

Psychological aspects of work have come to the fore in this era. It’s not just depression, anxiety and burnout. Loneliness at work had already been identified as a major risk. In research carried out pre-pandemic 42% of people said they have no friends at work - yet this is the place where we spend a third of our lives (Oseland, 2019). Research shows that building a sense of belonging at work is vital for our wellbeing, productivity and loyalty to an organisation. Of the different work locations, home was the workplace where the highest levels of loneliness were reported. The impact of loneliness shouldn’t be underestimated. Workplace belonging leads to a 56% increase in job performance: 50% reduction in turnover risk and a 75% decrease in employee sick days (BetterUp Labs, 2018) 

It's not just loneliness and sense of belonging. We need variety and exposure to different environments in order to create mental balance and stimulation. This can rarely be achieved by sitting in the same place in front of the same screen all day and all week.  

Everyone is different. 

Different sociodemographic groups and different personality types fare differently when working from home. Of the personality types, introverts tend to prefer it, and those with invisible disabilities and the neurodiverse have generally found it easier as they can tailor their environment to suit their needs. In contrast, many people stagnate at home by themselves, needing others for motivation and stimulation. 

The younger generations, and those starting out in a new job or career, need significantly more IRL (in real life) work time in order to learn, build relationships and generally thrive (Microsoft 2021). And this group are far less likely to have a dedicated work from home set up which has been shown to have a negative effect on performance (Leesman 2021).  

Those who are more established in their career, who are more self-motivated, have less to learn, and bigger networks, find that there are less distractions at home. Coupled with the likelihood of having a good work from home setup, they are often more productive. 

Parents, particularly single parents, find it easier to juggle childcare when WFH. Cost of commute and distance to office plays a key role in interest in working in the office, as does availability of public transport.  

Catering for different needs. 

Humans are social animals. They thrive off being together for learning, creativity, support and companionship. But they are all different. A large proportion of knowledge workers have spent at least two years working from home where they have been able to tailor their own environment. Acoustics, privacy, thermal comfort, air quality, lighting, furniture, biophilia and overall aesthetics – all under their own control. Bringing people back to a shared workplace takes them out of their comfort zone and requires them to re-adapt. They might be more sensitive to noise, so the open plan desk farm really won’t cut it (not that it ever did anyway). They may feel they need places for quiet focus or refuge, to escape from the crowd when they need a few minutes, or hours, quiet and calm.  They want more places to collaborate and socialise, after all that’s why they’ve made the effort to travel to the office in the first place.  

Getting employees back into the office. 

We’ve shown that while hybrid working can be highly beneficial for individuals, too much remote working can often be unhealthy for individuals, teams and organisations. Businesses need to lure people out of their homes but to do this their workplaces need to feel like a destination, not an obligation. They need to offer things that people can’t get at home such as seamless hybrid meeting technology or great coffee, as well as the companionship of course. The new hybrid offices need plenty of places for video calls and meetings. They need touch down spaces. And a wide variety of types of spaces to suit different personality types and different ways of working, with a strong focus on wellbeing. In our employee surveys across a wide range of businesses, many talk about wanting plants and greenery, good air quality, height adjustable desks, and well equipped kitchens and breakout areas.   

Look after your people and they will look after your business. 

We’ve given some insight into why people’s needs should rise to the top of an employer’s priorities. Creating the right conditions, the best employee experience, will mean you are looking after your people so that they will look after your business. Or it could be simply because you want to do the right thing. Whatever your motivation, let’s take this seriously and not just pay lip service to how workplace and people are intricately entwined. We know how we can support people and enable them to be their best selves at work. But we need to do it in a balanced way, while also thinking about the affect our behaviours have on the climate and on our society.   

The next in this introductory insight series, Part 2. Climate, will provide a fascinating view into the wide reaching implications our working lives can have on our planet. Join our mailing list to be notified when we publish any new insights!

References:  

BetterUp Labs, (2018). The Value of Belonging at Work: New Frontiers for Inclusion. US: BetterUp. 

Bloom et al (2022) Stanford University. Key Decisions About the Future of WFH  

Leesman (2021) Workplace 2021: Appraising future readiness. 

Microsoft (2021) Worklab Work Trend Index Report. 

Oseland et al (2019) Loneliness Lab: Workplace Loneliness report.