Are offices still necessary?
Whichever side of the debate you land on, let’s agree to make the future of work more humane, productive and sustainable.
COVID-19 has grabbed us all by the ankles, dangled us upside down, and proceeded to shake vigorously.
To say we’ve been “disrupted” would be too kind, especially for those who communicate for a living. Communicating amid a pandemic is like trying to direct traffic at night, during a sandstorm, in a village experiencing a blackout. No one knows exactly what’s happening, or where to go. It’s impossible to see ahead, and it’s unclear if we’ll ever truly “get back to normal.”
The big question is: Would it be such a bad thing to leave our pre-pandemic professional paradigm in the past? Should we even bother refilling offices or reopening our brick-and-mortar workplaces?
Esteemed PR authority Stephen Waddington tweeted a list of reasons why offices still matter, which struck a nerve and elicited a range of responses:
Why we still need offices:
1. Broaden professional & social horizons
2: Centres of expertise & excellence
3. Community
4. Creativity
5. Learning
6. Security
7. Serendipity
8. Transfer of knowledge & skills
9. Social interaction
10. Work/life boundary
— Stephen Waddington (@wadds) July 12, 2020
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