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Companies around the world are debating how and when to return to the office.
Health and safety has taken on a whole new significance in the era of coronavirus.
To bring people back safely, the options for office redesign are bewildering.
How should desks be arranged to enable social distancing alongside the benefits of being in the same room?
And do people need to return for five days a week?
Many companies are looking to have some employees work from home, some of the time.
Consider, for instance, the6 Feet Office.
This idea runs the risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
If that is the case, why not just work from home?
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Companies need to incorporate an essential lesson from the COVID-19 lockdown: Zoom works surprisingly well.
But there are also lots of benefits to informal interaction something a prearranged video call cannot replicate.
In light of this, we propose a hybrid system of the best of both worlds.
If fewer people are coming in to maintain social distancing, it is best to have all teams represented.
And the office layout must facilitate connections between people rather than keeping them apart.
Planned vs unplanned communication
Theres an important distinction between planned and unplanned communication at work.
Unplanned communication typically takes place via serendipitous encounters and, importantly, involves conversations across teams.
Here proximity is needed.
This can have real business benefits.
In the case of planned communication, remote conferencing technology has made proximity less important.
This message came out clearly from a panel event we organizedat the LSEs Systemic Risk Centre.
For that reason, communicating remotely is incredibly easy and can even be more efficient.
So physical proximity is primarily needed for unplanned communication.
It means remote working can continue at little cost to planned communication.
This will enable cross-team communication, which relies on physical proximity.
This is important for building better relationships between colleagues and company culture.
To facilitate this, the focus on social distancing must distinguish between distance and accessibility.
