Post-Pandemic Workplaces: Design for your workers, not the work

In the past, work was like a taxi that brought its passengers to their destination. However, passengers now value the journey just as much as getting to the destination. Hence, taxis must offer their passengers a greater travelling experience, or risk losing them to ride-sharing services.

Many corporations have been quick to describe what workplaces should be post pandemic. Harvard Business Review recently published various examples of post-pandemic workplaces and recommended managers choose based on the type of work their employees conduct. UNStudio, an international architecture firm, promotes the use of technology and a focus on employee wellbeing in future workplaces. Gensler, another global architecture firm, suggests that space and social experiences will be some of the most valued aspects of the post-pandemic office.

However, what is often absent from these reports is an elaboration on how these workplaces will foster employees’ sense of purpose at work. Addressing the employees’ sense of purpose in workplace design is a crucial first step because purpose is a critical motivator at work. Failure to consider the employees’ sense of purpose will only lead us to create workplaces that facilitate the activity of work (i.e., what we do at work) rather than motivating people at the workplace (i.e., why they do the work).

keywords: workplace design; post-pandemic

• year: April 2021 — August 2021
• for: This is the Fold