Dreams of reinventing the workplace gave us cubicles and hotdesking as utopian ideas gave way to cost-cutting
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When offices in the UK closed in mid-March and companies instructed their staff to work from home – without access to their usual materials and tools, their physical workspace or to many of their colleagues – people already sensed that this was an unprecedented experiment. No one was prepared for this, not even the banks, with their elaborate business-continuity plans focused on terrorist attacks but not on completely avoiding human contact. Against all odds, working from home was more successful than anyone would have predicted, with many people reporting their productivity had increased during the first two months of lockdown.
Months later, most office workers have not returned to their shared workplaces, and those that have come back are finding themselves catapulted into a strange new world of plastic dividers, distancing, mask-wearing and hand sanitising. Amid the turbulence of second waves and local lockdowns, the best that employers can do right now is offer a phased and flexible return to the office, closely evaluating risks as they go.
Related: 'We don't feel pressure to go back': England's firms in no hurry to resume office life
Kerstin Sailer is an associate professor in social and spatial networks at University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture Continue reading...
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