While most people got very comfortable working from home, the office will still call anytime it is safe to join back. After a long year, or so it seems, of working from home the power dynamics have shifted. Employees need a reason to return to the office and the companies will need to give them a very good reason indeed. Maybe the companies also need to provide spaces designed for what we've been missing all along- the human connection, and a bit of rest and relaxation.
Offices need to function in two key ways- one where offices work as spaces where people gather for leadership, personal development and culture and second as clubhouses where people come together to collaborate and congregate. But it is worth noting that either way it won't be possible to gather the employees for five days a week anymore, not at least in the near future.
No matter how much we adapted ourselves in the pandemic times, this transformation won't be simpl because it is not just philosophical but physical too. A flexible space means a space that suits a variety of needs. employees want to work in an office, but only twice a week and above that they want it to be collaborative. Office design needs to accommodate their “activity-based working.”
But it is worth paying attention that the collaborative spaces alone may not be enough to draw people back. The companies would need to attract people either with a headquarter with a lot of amenities or with a really unique experience that they can't get anywhere else. Companies may consider setting up outposts in unconventional locales, like rural, scenic areas which are easy to be reached and are more associated with leisure too. True that calling people back on job is a job now.