As we approach the first anniversary of lockdown, debate continues to rage on the pros and cons of working from home and how it affects our quality of life. While there has been much positive anecdotal evidence concerning the benefits of working from home, including articles this week advocating the joys of WFB (working from bed), the reality is that this social experiment is still in its early days and emerging on the horizon is a dark cloud of issues concerning employee quality of life and mental wellbeing that will threaten us in the forthcoming months.

As we all come to terms with the implications of a third national lockdown, cast your mind back to Spring last year when the novelty of working from home was still at its peak. One of the biggest benefits highlighted at the time was that remote working would herald the end of presenteeism, the practice of being present in the office for more hours than is required, as a means of impressing the boss or as a manifestation of job insecurity.

As agile working becomes more established, the role of the corporate headquarters is changing and the idea of the office as a clubhouse that reflects the corporate brand is gaining traction. Not least is this evidenced in research from CBRE, where every respondent to their global study of September this year believed that an office should be a place where a company reflects its brand and culture and provides space for employees to experience community and social interaction.

Over the past decade we’ve witnessed the rise of co-working and a proliferation of flexible office environments, however, during lockdown a whole range of new workspace models has begun to emerge to satisfy post-COVID office needs. We’ve seen new models introduced around safety and convenience, such as lower density workspaces and occupancy sensors that accurately track the density in given areas in real-time, plus businesses providing dedicated workspaces for teams to get together on one-two days a week and then dissipate to work remotely.

Cast your mind back across your career and you can probably identify a series of seminal moments that were key to your success, whether that was receiving words of advice from a wise colleague; watching an inspiring leader in action; or having a chance conversation at the water cooler that opened a door to the future.

One of the biggest challenges in the shift to remote working is the ability to mentor employees. Employees are no longer able to learn by observing peers and seniors in the physical workplace, and tens of thousands of people have started new jobs or changed roles during lockdown having never met their work colleagues. Whilst induction and training programmes can be carried out successfully online, there is no substitute for the physical workplace to build relationships, mentor talent and enable employees to learn from their peers.

When your office is at home and your team is dotted all over the place, it does make it more challenging to demonstrate successful leadership. The rudiments of leadership, from setting and communicating a strategy, to motivating your team to perform and deliver on that strategy, and measuring success, are being tested and reworked.

Lockdown has given us all time to reflect on what the keys to workplace success might be in the post-COVID world and which qualities we need as leaders to navigate the crisis. According to a recent survey conducted by Hall & Partners in collaboration with the Global Thinkers Forum, Saïd Business School and the Women of the Future programme the answer to those questions is one and the same thing: kindness.

When looking to host a meeting in London there are so many choices. What location is best? Does it have good transport links? What facilities are on offer? Are the rooms adequately sized? These are just some of the important factors to consider. So where do you start? 

We have put together our guide to choosing the best meeting rooms in London.

News of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine this week has brought a wave of optimism and hopes that in 2021 we will see a return to the office on either a permanent or hybrid basis. Attitudes to working from home may have been positive in the first lockdown, with McKinsey reporting at the start of June that 80% of people were enjoying it, but now we have come into the second lockdown, how are levels of job satisfaction faring for home workers?

The day office offers a back to work opportunity that is safe & private. But how does it compare with a dedicated desk?