People Matters asked David Calkins, the Regional Managing Principal of Asia Pacific and Middle East for Gensler, the world's largest design firm, to share some thoughts about how COVID19 is changing office spaces. David, an award-winning architect and interior designer, leads the senior management team in setting strategic priorities and oversees growth initiatives and client activities in the region. Here are the highlights of the conversation.
With remote work proving so successful, many business owners are saying that they won't need office space anymore. What are your thoughts on that?
The effectiveness of working from home has been a pleasant surprise. We surveyed all the staff in our region—for me that is the Asia Pacific and Middle East, extending from Sydney to Tokyo, Bangalore, and Abu Dhabi—and we found that the majority of our people, 68 percent, were satisfied or highly satisfied about working from home. They felt that they were trusted by their manager and were more empowered and productive than when they were in the office.
But on the other hand, we miss the socialization; we feel that the boundary between work and life is somewhat lacking, and we're working longer hours. We miss the interactions, the collaboration and feeling that we're a part of our various organizations. And so, we're going to have to be careful about saying that we don't need office space anymore. The character of that space might change, but the sense of culture in the organization is so important. That culture is played out by us being in the same office, working together, spending time with each other.
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