Improve cooperation

Many firms have realised during the pandemic, and the lockdown that went with it, that city centre real estate may be a very expensive means of providing facilities for staff. 

The general consensus is that workers have been quite productive whilst working from home, so minute by minute supervision is unnecessary 

However here are factors that make remote working less effective.  There is, perhaps naturally, a lack of informal cooperation that ’oils the wheels’ of effectiveness. Formal cooperation and communication can take advantage of Zoom, Teams ands other platforms …. but the informal component trends to b re missed.  Yet, the informal component of cooperation and communications is what people value - its why they like going to work. It is also how they get simple (but effective) peer support and training.  It is also what helps innovation via the cross-pollenisation of thoughts and ideas.

So, as you start to move towards whatever the new normal will be, you should think about whether, and how, you should bring people together to improve communication and cooperation.

How do you engage workers on a daily and continuing basis? How do you get your company values and culture to permeate across physical barriers?

You might not get all the answers right … but you will get many of them wrong if you don’t even think about it.  

Of course, with luck you can get back to where you were before the pandemic.  But wouldn’t you be better in a more advantageous position, with  more engaged, more cooperative,  more creative workers.