Do hybrid workspaces = better mental health?

Do hybrid workspaces = better mental health?

More companies are transforming office spaces to suit their plans for hybrid working. A BBC survey of the UK’s 50 biggest employers earlier this year found that 43 planned to encourage working from home for two to three days a week going forward. A Leadership IQ survey has suggested that 91% of employees want at least some WFH.

Besides the potential for cost savings from smaller office facilities, there is the argument that an office space strategy needs to be ‘realigned’ with changing employees’ needs, leading to happier, more productive staff. A report from Envoy recently (UK return to the workplace) included the statistic that 70% of employees believe a hybrid working model results in personal benefits, with 34% saying it would improve their mental health.

WeWork campaign

The American commercial real estate company, WeWork, is promoting the idea of the need for flexible shared workspaces – not just for tech startups but for the mainstream of employers. In this way, they argue, HR is delivering more benefits to its workforce. Ashley Cope, Head of People Partners for WeWork in the UK, said: “Office visits are becoming more intentional – with employees coming in for specific reasons, and therefore office must fulfil a specific purpose. It must facilitate the in-person teamwork that has stagnated during working from home by being both collaborative and convenient.”

Cope adds: “Hybrid working can empower employees with more choice over how, where and when they work, allowing them to tailor their working days to their own personal schedules. This is something that employees have always wanted, and sustained periods of working from home and the trust built between employers and employees has shown how effective it can be.”

WeWork, with 1,200 employees across 24 countries, has introduced ‘collaboration hubs’ into workspaces to encourage “better in-work connection” along with the All Access scheme that allows employees to work from any office location in either the UK or Ireland.

Homeless?

“The move to hybrid work arrangements comes with a mixed bag of implications for employees,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell.

“It means revolutionary change to traditional practices. For all the potential benefits from incensed flexibility and work/life balance it has to be recognised that change is always unsettling. For many staff not having a fixed workspace, their own desk and chair, their things in one place, will be difficult. Not knowing when they will next see colleagues. The change in atmosphere. The need for more independence and self-reliance. Even a sense of isolation.

“For managers there will also be all the challenges of dealing with dispersed teams and all their different situations and needs. As the pandemic experience has shown, more flex can also lead to higher risk of the blurring of work and home life and more burnout. For HR in general there will be issues with engagement and loyalty among staff whose attachments to the workplaces are weakened.

“In this context, where there will inevitably be feelings of disorientation, support for mental wellbeing and an all-round sense of ‘belonging’ will be critical, and HR will need to be looking hard at how problems can be dealt with and relationships can be preserved.”

Do hybrid workspaces = better mental health? EAPA UK