4 Workplace myths that we believed to be true until Covid-19 proved them wrong

Workplaces are front and center during this Covid-19 situation. It’s a strange situation for those of us who live Corporate Real Estate. We’ve always known how much rides on what we do, but now, everyone else is seeing it as important as well. There are a lot of armchair experts rising up who are developing some early ideas based on easy to digest myths that aren’t quite real.

This then led me to look at some of the things that those of us close to the industry have held true that may not actually be. Over the decades the industry has evolved to the point now where “workplace experience” dominates most of the conversation. However, the current pandemic provides us the chance to question foundational truths that may not be true at all.

Myth 1: Companies must have workplaces for a significant (or majority) portion of their workforce.

Over the course of the past few months, it’s been proven that professional services roles, back-office functions, and other jobs that take place in offices can largely be effectively done from the home. Five years ago, this may not have been the case, but today it certainly seems to be proving out. Past experiments with mass work from home have had decidedly mixed results (see IBM, HP, and Yahoo). Will the on-going ability to effectively work from home continue once the pandemic is over and things begin to return to normal? We don’t know, but we cannot rule it out.

Myth 2: Workplace is a driving factor of a company’s culture.

Real estate and facilities professionals have always prided ourselves on ensuring offices reflected the company’s culture. It is not a hard jump to then think that workplace becomes a driver of culture. However, when no one is in the office and culture still exists (and possibly even strengthens?), have we been overestimating the role of workplace on culture? It’s entirely likely.

Myth 3: Agile working helps (or hurts) collaboration and innovation.

The big debate over the past several years is whether open, agile workplaces help or hinder collaboration, innovation, and productivity. There is no greater flexibility than working from home. If people can collaborate and be productive entirely outside the office, the implication is that we have all been over-estimating the role workplace plays in those factors. Maybe all the studies and debates have simply reflected the pre-existing notions of those conducting them. Is it possible that people are the drivers of their own behavior and that the workplace is not the major factor?

Myth 4: Workplace Experience directly impacts the top-line of the business by driving productivity.

The rise of Workplace Experience (and People Experience) has been driven by relating it to improved employee performance. While the processes and activities enabled through a good Workplace Experience program undoubtedly have value on their own, have we all been looking at these programs from the wrong lens (e.g. from a workplace angle) when we should have been approaching them from a purely business perspective in the first place with workplace as an output?

Here’s the thing, no one can answer these questions right now in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. But if I had asked these three months ago, I would have been scoffed at by the majority of real estate professionals. Now, I’ll still be scoffed at by a large number of them, but at least now I’ll know which ones are tied to a specific way of working and cannot step back and question the basis of our industry.

Just something to think about.