NowyStyl_Reunion_A new office reality_EN

Providing the employees with the opportunity to work together and integrate at the workplace affects their well-being and caters to their basic human needs. Having a group of colleagues you can bond with increases satisfaction with job assignments (which are often performed together, in the group). This is confirmed by the answers provided by the respondents in a study conducted by Nowy Styl. The participants claimed that major difficulties related to remote work are of social nature - in other words, they missed having coffee in the office, being able to con- sult their colleagues or have an occasional work-related chat. The need for balance Long working hours, exhaustion related to excessive workload and a sense of disconnection are three major challenges and consequences of the pandemic, according to the participants of the CBRE survey. Similar aspects were noted by the respondents to our study. Among the greatest disadvantages of remote work they mentioned working overtime, colliding with other people at home, difficulties in maintaining work-life balance and a lack of ergonomic workstations. The past two years of restrictions and forced remote work have shown us how difficult it is to maintain a work-life balance. As our personal space was converted into a home office, our work and life merged, which resulted in excessive over- time and disconnection. No appropriate, separated, ergonomic workstation also affected our health and family relationships. We can venture to say that work-life balance was replaced by work-life blending, which was hard for some people. Nowadays we’re standing at a sort of crossroads – between remote and office work. It’s good to try and find balance, to maintain the right level of priority. A study conducted by Harvard Business School 10 shows that we need a “sweet spot” in whatever we do. That’s why the 2/3 hybrid work model (2 days in office, 3 days remote, or or vice versa) could be the optimum solution. It provides just the right balance – the model ensures a degree of flexibility, at the same time guaranteeing some human interaction, as e.g. Bryan Hancock points out. . It’s good to remember that performing job assignments in an atmosphere of understanding, collaboration and belonging increases individual effectiveness and helps the employees see their efforts as meaningful. All this makes pre-pandemic arrangements a thing of the past, which means they will have to be replaced with areas that foster collaboration, innovation and community-building. The need for integration Anofficecontinuestobethefirstchoiceforactivitiesthatrequireinteraction,suchas brainstorming,teamworkandothercreativeprocessesthatcallforacollectiveeffort. Office space is increasingly becoming a social facility. This is confirmed by the results of studies conducted by Rahaman et al. (2020) 8 focused on seating prefer- ences in an office following a hybrid model. The outcome proves that employees need to interact with their colleagues while they are working. A vast majority of the respondents (more than 83%) prefer to occupy seats near other team mem- bers. What is more, as many as half of the American businesses are planning to introduce pilot changes in their office arrangement - these companies intend to transform chill-out and regeneration zones into places that foster communi- ty-building and collaboration. Such areas best reflect the essence of new, hybrid models of work. According to the CBRE report 9 , we know that the office of the future will focus on bringing people together and connecting them. Collaboration, as well as sharing knowledge and ideas, are basic aspects that maintain team relations as we shift towards flexible working models. Working from home – even if you enjoy the best possible conditions and have access to modern technical equipment – does not guarantee 100% focus on your work assignments. Plus, lack of contact and inter- action is one of the major difficulties employees experience when joining a new company. Drawbacks such as no direct supervision or ad hoc consultations extend the duration of necessary onboarding or updating information, which significantly reduces the opportunity to master new skills and improve the existing ones. “Clear boundaries between workspace and personal life are good for us. It also fosters focus and enthusiasm – in the office your brain switches into the “work mode” and when you leave, you go straight into the ‘life’ mode, without having to be suspended somewhere in between.” Statement of a respondent 8 Rahaman, M. S., Kudo, S., Rawling, T., Ren, Y., & Salim, F. D. (2020). Seating preference analysis for hybrid workplaces 9 CBRE (2021). Raport badawczy. Praca z domu czy z biura? 1 0 Matthew Boyle and Ryan Cavataro (2022) One or two days in the office is the „sweet spot” of hybrid work Changes in office spaces:  creating more areas for formal and informal meetings  reducing the open-space area and coming up with more various activity-related spaces  increasing the space designed for teamwork and project work  arranging new spaces for team meetings  providing special equipment to facilitate hybrid work Source: Polska Rada Facility Managementu (2022) Biuro pod znakiem hybrydy 09 08 Contents