A few weeks before
lockdown, I found myself missing some of the elements of working for myself,
primarily the ability to manage my time with more flexibility, less time lost
to the commute and generally more time and energy to spend at home with my
family and my community. I resolved myself that I needed to accept that
lifestyle was gone, not compatible with the 9-5 of my employed status. Yet here
I am, still fully employed (albeit on reduced hours), managing my time myself,
spending more time with kids, talking to my neighbours and actually getting the
garden sorted, all whilst working and communicating with my team more effectively
than ever. Lockdown has forced me to work at home again, but it has shown me
that I don’t need to sacrifice all of the pros of self-employment for all of the
benefits of working for a practice.
The lockdown has stripped
away the rituals and routines of office working, distilling it down to the core
elements of the job, and forcing us into a new way of working, a way of working
that can present opportunities for consultancies like mine. I feel passionately
that, before we rush out forget our Zoom passwords, grab our first unicorn
marshmallow frappuccino and dive back
into the rat race, we need to pause, take stock and take this opportunity to
redefine what we want from office life.
Cost Efficient and Effective Communication
We have been forced to
embrace communication technologies in a way we hadn’t until now. JP Morgan
reports that Teams usage has quadrupled since the virus began. WhatsApp is
reporting increases of up to 76% in Europe. I hadn’t even heard of Zoom before
March and now it’s headline news.
I’ve spoken to my Dad in
Dublin more times in the last week than I have in the preceding months and I‘ve
seen his face more than I have in the last year. I get to talk to my boss and
colleagues on a daily basis, allowing us to address the upcoming stresses
before they happen, making us far more effective than ever, and probably
learning more about each other in the meantime. We didn’t communicate this well
when we were meant to be working from adjacent desks. And we’re breaking down
the barriers. As one colleague from Birmingham commented, I’m no longer Wendy
from London, I’m Wendy from the Landscape team. The geography is no longer
important.
And while we’re on the
subject of meetings, look at the savings and efficiencies for us and our
clients. Last week I had a meeting with 15 people, including clients and
professionals from across the country. Normally those meetings would run to a
day of time for each person, at the cost of thousands to the client and
potential unbillable hours for us. In contrast, the video meeting was quick and
efficient, a couple of hours at most. Those who weren’t needed at any point
could work on other things and we could call in additional people as we needed
them: ‘I have a heritage question, quick get Heritage on the blower.’ We could
refer to plans, even draw on them, on a screen 200 miles away. We could see
each other’s faces and expressions. No phone call can give you that level of
visual potential and no physical meeting can offer you that level of time and
cost efficiency.
Lower Overheads and
Better Quality Working
When I am working now, I’m
more efficient, both in terms of how long my working day is but also how
productive I am when I’m at my desk. I normally work a four-day week. I’d like
the option to work five shorter days, not all at home, but it’s not been worth
it in the past because every extra day means more commute time. The commute
time then puts on pressure to maximise time in the office, working a longer day
less effectively. Now I can stretch my hours across five days, working in
bursts when I’m at my most productive, be available to team and clients five
days a week and get more time to myself and my family. Isn’t that what consultancy
is meant to look like?
We’re a people business
and people are our greatest cost, as they should be. But what about the other
overheads? How many of you have printed a document since you were working at
home? Those emails that say, ‘think before you print’? When it’s my own ink and
I have to race my toddler to the printer before she eats the conclusion of my
report, I really do think, believe me. I’d be intrigued to see what the
unclaimed printing cost is now, compared to a couple of months ago when it was
oh so easy to hit print, walk ten yards and pick up a copy in seconds. The
paperless office has become a reality. And that’s a drop in the ocean compared
to the cost of renting an office in Central London.
If we’re working at home more
often, could we reduce our rent costs by functioning with less space? Could we
reduce our floor plate or could we use that space in a more innovative and
stimulating way that provides benefits in the way we work and interact as a
practice? Do we need ninety desks with, say, forty empty on any given day?
Meeting rooms with coffee machines sat earning nothing? Do we all need our
fixed desks with our fixed monitors and our favourite coaster? I always thought
so before, but now? Not so much. Wouldn’t it be great if I could sit with the
team of people I’m working with that day? Or perhaps I want to go and sit with
one of the Architects because both of our toddlers had a bad night and we want
to compare war stories. Or maybe I just want a reading nook to go over a report
in peace. We have laptops, wifi and docking stations, there’s nothing to stop us
sitting somewhere else because it suits us better that day, creating better
communication across the different teams.
Quality of Life
And here is the crux of it
for me. Aren’t we always going on about work-life balance? I don’t leave the
house at 8 anymore to grab my very short by London standards commute. No, I
grab my coffee, step into the spare room and log in, an hour ahead of myself
and having slept longer. I know people who don’t even go home during the week
but stay in London, away from their partners and kids. For some people in my
office, that commute time might add up to 20 hours recovered a week. 20 hours.
Just let that sink in.
What that work life balance
looks like for you might be different but I can do a few hours’ work, have a
leisurely lunch with the kids, maybe a bit of Joe Wickes (I ache everywhere),
attack the garden, and then back for the afternoon. During my first three weeks
of lockdown, I laid an astroturf lawn and built a playhouse. Last week we made
pizzas. From scratch. All these things I don’t have the energy to do in a
normal week, I’m doing now, and I’m doing them with my kids. So, my eldest
wants to water the plants every five seconds and the youngest just wants to eat
mud, but that’s proper quality time. I have colleagues and clients who are
losing weight better than they ever have done before because they are getting
the time to exercise or eat properly in a way they didn’t before.
And what is most striking,
is that none of this technology is new. It’s been sat there, a forgotten and
unloved icon on the computer screen. We’ve not made the move to use it before
because we haven’t had to and perhaps because home working comes with a stigma,
but now we’ve learned so much. Presenteeism doesn’t mean the same thing anymore
and some of the stigma of working from home has gone.
Home working doesn’t bring
all the answers, but it has brought me unforeseen benefits in terms of cost,
efficiency and work-life balance. For me, it’s no longer an either/or
situation. I can have my work-life cake and eat it. And what is more, if we can
take those lessons forward into the future, to reshape what the office bit of
office working looks like, I firmly believe that there are greater benefits to
be had in terms of cost savings, staff happiness and productivity gains.
There’s an opportunity to
work in a different way and I don’t want to lose it.
All views expressed are my own and not those of my colleagues, my practice or my profession
