18 The office remains important The office is central to the future-proofing of organisation culture. It remains an important place for ‘real’ meetings of all sizes between people. What I mean by this is meetings where we can use our senses to perceive subtle signals and thus collect more information. All employees form part of a psycho-social work climate which is in turn linked to the organisation culture that is formed and sustained through encounters between people in the organisation. Many organisations have observed how the glue that holds the organisation together lost some of its stick during the pandemic, and that there is a need to invest more energy into strengthening organisation culture in all ways imaginable, both now and going forward. Collaboration, job satisfaction and knowledge development are all factors that influence our desire to come into the office. Our analysis shows a shift in focus when it comes to the most important job of the office – from an external focus to a more internal one. The goal here revolves partly around supporting the employees and their work and partly around strengthening the organisation’s identity among employees to make them feel part of a greater whole. I believe that we will see this shift reflected in the future designs and premises strategies that organisations adopt. “Culture does not come about by itself; we need to come together and reflect on how we meet and work. For us, having a strong culture is super important. If that’s not something you want, then you should apply elsewhere.” Third place breeds new ideas The sociologist Ray Oldenburg (Oldenburg & Brisset, 1982) coined the term ‘the third place’, which can also refer to a workplace. This is the place where unplanned and spontaneous meetings and discussions occur. It is within this third place that we can have conversations around thoughts and ideas in a relaxed manner without the pressure to come up with anything or stick to an agenda. Sometimes we need to talk about how things work or solve smaller problems, and sometimes we need a fresh perspective or support and encouragement. These chance meetings represent a valuable opportunity for problem-solving, creativity and understanding. A great example of this is an encounter beside a photocopier at the University of Pennsylvania between two researchers. Katalin Karikó began talking about her latest discovery, mRNA, to Drew Weissman, who came from a completely different field of research. This casual conversa- tion was the beginning of a multi-year research collaboration which led to a completely new method of vaccination against Covid-19 and a Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023. Culture and the office Something else which emerges as increasingly important in the future is the need to merge the office with its various functions via the help of organisation culture. Instead of making surface- level changes, it is necessary to examine the needs of employees and professional groups in conjunction with one another so that this intel can guide office design. The hybrid office set-up has taught us that the various different needs of the workplace sometimes conflict with one another. While some people only come to the office reluctantly, arguing that they work better from home, others want nothing more than to meet, exchange ideas and collaborate with their colleagues. The needs of the organisation can also sometimes conflict with the work-environment needs of individuals and work groups. This balancing act is a challenge that the hybrid office throws into sharp relief and which must be addressed in the offices of tomorrow. Workplace needs must be identified, and they need to be balanced against one another. The desire of one group to meet with their colleagues – potentially resulting in greater satisfaction and higher levels of productivity for them – needs to be weighed against the overall productivity of the organisation as a whole. The organisation’s needs for synergies and future development also need to be factored into the equation. This may mean that we need to recognise that certain groups may not actually come back to the office to the same
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