As the debate over return-to-office mandates rumbles on, one question often gets overlooked: what are employees actually returning to? The type of physical office space an organisation has can directly impact how often employees want to come into work — and how motivated they are once they’re there.
UK employees lose an estimated 68 minutes each week to unproductive tasks relating to their workspace, according to research by property management company Mitie, costing employers around £485m per week.
These tasks include finding a room with reliable Wi-Fi, waiting on poorly maintained building services such as slow lifts or searching for spaces for collaboration.
Bukky Oyedeji, assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School, emphasises how important a physical office space is for employees beyond simply a location for them to work.
“Organisations need to make sure spaces are created to allow interdependent teams to communicate. Allowing onboarding, knowledge sharing, decision-making to be facilitated [physically] is so important.”
