How the WFH Vs Office debate is changing our view on recruitment, culture & job searching forever

( A semi biased view on the world of work post COVID) 

With the number of people set on working from home soaring, is it time for companies with large office spaces to begin panicking? Or is there life left in the hallowed halls of the WeWorks, TOGs, and Foras all across the UK’s main cities and more importantly the companies that reside within them? 

Prior to covid, I never had the option to WFH but as the old adage ‘the grass is always greener’ goes, I was always very keen on the idea. Fast forward 18 months and, whilst I love the ability to roll out of bed at quarter to 9 and chuck on a polo shirt and pair of football shorts with no judgment or risk of being seen as a complete reprobate, I’ve missed the office. Not just because Theodo has a phenomenal setup with a coffee machine, beer fridge & very impressive aircon system (sorry, had to plug us somewhere) but because the office provides a hotbed of energy that motivates me far beyond the alternative of walking 3 metres from bed to desk.

The talent market

I know, however, that this is not the case for everyone based on the sheer number of remote roles currently advertised and a large number of candidates I speak to who have elected to eliminate the commute by applying for remote work only. This has made the competition for top-tier tech talent very interesting with Glassdoor, the job posting site, stating that its remote job openings are up 28.3% from a year ago, which begs the question Can companies who do not offer remote work compete with those that can?...

On one hand, this workday renaissance provides the opportunity for London-based companies to hire candidates from a much more diverse catchment and tap into talent based in Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, and beyond. It also gives candidates from all over the UK the chance to compete for higher salaries, which would have previously required you to either commute long distances or pay the price for London real estate or (And I’ll be fascinated to see how this goes down), London based companies no longer have to pay a premium on London based salaries if the cost of living elsewhere is lower/no commute.

On the other hand, the wealth of opportunity gained from being based in and around the city is not to be laughed at. I am far from a networking Adonis, but the number of candidates, clients, and opportunities that I discovered during my time working in WeWorks, Foras & even in the Liverpool street pubs made my job considerably easier and provided a vital social dynamic that so many of our jobs rely on. 

Building culture & lasting relationships 

According to the 2020 State of Business Communication Report, face-to-face communication is still the most preferable communication method among employees- and no, this doesn’t include video conferencing.

This is realistically something that can only be achieved in an office environment and whilst the likes of Donut and similar apps have aimed to imitate the water cooler style of conversation virtually, they do not replace the natural flow of office banter. 

A widely-accepted rule is that communication is only 7 percent verbal and 93 percent non-verbal, body language (55%) and tone of voice (38%) dictate our ability to correctly interpret those around us far more than what we actually say. So where does that leave us when trying to understand and empathize with our colleagues and clients if we are stuck behind a camera and dodgy sound quality? Whilst zoom may do a great job of facilitating meetings and catch-ups, it has a particularly detrimental effect when it comes to building rapport & lasting relationships. Not to mention that involuntary, but a rather narcissistic tendency to look at your own image in the zoom call rather than the faces of those around you. 

WFH or living at work 

One point becoming ever more prevalent in the WFH vs. Office argument is that people have begun feeling more like they are living at work rather than working from home.

Mental health has never been higher on the agenda for businesses and it is easy to see why with a number of companies from Spill to Unmind looking to pave the way to provide better support networks around these issues. Even prior to COVID-19, anxiety and depression were estimated to cost the global economy over $1 trillion every year in lost productivity. The “exodus from offices in 2020 has presented further challenges and raised big questions about future ways of working”, says Miranda Wolpert, Director, Mental Health, Wellcome Trust.

Companies like Splunk, Affirm, and Microsoft saw a large spike in productivity in the first couple of months of quarantine, but over time, the loneliness of working at a home office affects productivity and job satisfaction.

On the other hand, (bias aside) 77% of those who work remotely at least a few times per month show increased productivity, with 30% doing more work in less time and 24% doing more work in the same period of time according to a survey by ConnectSolutions.

One of the other popular reasons behind the desire to WFH is the hatred of commuting, the average brit spent 221 hours commuting in 2018 which is a hell of a lot of lost sweaty time.

The future of working 

There is no right or wrong answer to finding the right balance between wfh and the office. Anything from commute time, children, office culture, role, and responsibilities, right through to the quality of the coffee can affect the decision which is very personal. With that in mind, it seems the only way that employers can avoid losing talent in the post covid battle for their signatures is to offer flexibility with regards to how employees can operate.

It is becoming ever clearer that the hybrid work model can go a long way in addressing social inequity and providing a considerably more inclusive environment for all but only if it’s done right.

In the meantime though, I'll be waiting for this storm to blow over with a WeWork cup full of beer in my hand (on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays- which I’ve been told is adoringly referred to as the T.W.A.T model).

Where do you sit on the Hybrid office spectrum?