Tech cannot match tangible
The way your company operates, and how it makes you feel, has become increasingly pronounced during the pandemic, as most businesses have had to tackle a number of sensitive issues never encountered before. For example, management’s approach to things like inclusion, mentoring and flexibility have proved critical to talent retention and engagement this year.
That businesses are prioritising their corporate culture post-lockdown is, therefore, unsurprising, and is another key theme that has arisen during our conversations with customers.
For example, months of home working have bred pros and cons for all, but has this been more keenly pronounced for firms where directors and graduates often work in close proximity. Compare a working father’s feelings towards the remote model, which allows him to spend more time with his children and less time on the train, to a young eager-to-please graduate working 12-hour days in a Clapham flat-share – they will likely want a different post pandemic model.
As such, a central flexible workspace that employees can use in a fashion that works best for them is proving critical for many firms as they plot their exit plan.
One of our customers Brett Rogers, Investment Director at Conviction Equities, explained that his office by Bank station in central London is key for this very reason.
“Technology has been great, but we don’t see it as underpinning our future model. Our London team needs a physical, central base that our younger employees can regularly use as a place of productivity away from their small city flats and that our directors can come into a couple of times a week”.
The office no longer has to have set hours and assigned seating; it is now a hub that each team member can use in a way that aligns with their preferred working style.
In a similar vein to Schmidt, Rogers concluded that a flexible space is at the crux of the firm’s post-lockdown plan. “Having a workspace that can expand as our headcount does
will be vital in the months ahead”. Clearly then, businesses are increasingly seeing the office as an enabler of agility during a turbulent time rather than a contractual headache.
The business bounce-back
With Summer underway and London’s streets beginning to feel the footsteps of shoppers, diners and office workers once more, the business bounce-back has begun. Of course, the pandemic has taught us some important lessons – how well we can work independently or how we can in fact get by without our 11am Starbucks perhaps.
However, we mustn’t forget that it has also simply underscored things that we already knew, but had perhaps forgotten – for example, the importance of working side-by-side with a team or the status that London holds within the international banking community. Helping businesses map out their lockdown exit strategy has made one thing clear: a seat in the city isn’t an optional extra.
