Long road ahead for business to master office-home juggling act

Vaccinations aside, corporate Australia would be wise to take a deep breath before leaping into the next phase of working in the age of the pandemic.

The future of the city and its giant towers is still in flux — ­although the consensus appears to be that while our CBDs will not die, they are unlikely to revert quickly to the pre-2020 version — and any company that thinks it’s figured out what it all means for work routines is being optimistic.

There are surely few now who believe staff will happily return en masse to that open-plan office after a temperature check in the foyer and a socially-distanced trip in the lift.

A year of working from home has transformed the expectations of employees and employers alike: we all know now that “one size fits all” no longer cuts it in the modern workplace.

The problem for corporates is what exactly replaces the old ­office where working from home was largely a women’s thing, a privilege, an exception and sometimes a career-killer. Working from home at least some of the time is not yet a right, but it’s ­increasingly seen by both sides as inevitable.

The go-to idea in the past year has been the hybrid model where workers mix and match days in the office and at home. It looked like a perfect solution too for business, potentially allowing a permanent reduction in floor space and rent and lower costs, as households absorbed internet and computer charges. Some companies leapt into redesigning space to allow for team activity areas, meeting and hubs for workers on the specific days they trekked to the CBD.

There’s no doubt that some companies will make the hybrid work, but there are arguments against blithely embracing it as the answer.

Let’s start with the behaviour of the chief executive. Victoria aside, the anecdotal evidence is that while some bosses set themselves up at home during COVID-19, most spent the past 12 months working from the office. If that continues under a permanent hybrid model, it will be hard to see how stay-at-home employees are going to be treated equally.

The problem is that work processes and systems are traditionally designed for the office where, if needed, one can shout across the room to explain what’s going on. Some consultants have begun pointing out that unless companies rethink their processes on the basis that remote work rather than office work is the norm, there’s a real danger that talent will be missed and innovation will be lost in the hybrid model.

It’s a different story for small companies and start-ups which may indeed blossom in a CBD where rents are lower and the evolution of business is more ­organic, but for big legacy operations, finding the balance between the cubicle and the kitchen will demand a larger vision — and more time.