Innovation means collaborating in person. Learn how.
In early 2020, the way many millions of people work changed practically overnight. As much of the world embraced remote work to help contain the spread of COVID-19, many bosses anticipated drops in productivity as workers found themselves far from supervisors’ watchful eyes. By contrast, productivity levels largely stayed the same – or even increased.
Those positives, however, were largely constrained to solo work, and remote workers have reported increased isolation and burnout. Meanwhile, collaboration encountered new challenges. New tools arose in attempts to bridge the gap, but at the end of the day, the changes in where we work had significantly reshaped how we work.
A study tracking Microsoft’s shift to firm-wide remote work found that remote workers had “become more static and siloed, with fewer bridges between disparate parts.” While workers seized the opportunity to spend more time with their stronger ties–members of their same or related teams, whom they work with regularly–they began spending less time around weaker ties. These weaker ties bring in diverse perspectives and disparate information, both of which can aid innovation.
You can’t bump into someone at the water cooler and discover ways your work complements theirs when there isn’t a water cooler anymore. While many organizations have tried to recreate the experience virtually, with various combinations of Zoom happy hours, casual Slack channels and virtual activities, it seems nothing quite compares to in-person work when it comes to forging deeper bonds with weaker ties, which helps cement organizational culture and enhance collaboration.
While many have found they enjoy remote work, it seems the majority of workers aren’t eager to go fully remote, instead largely preferring a hybrid approach. In order to drive innovation, workspaces need to be designed with in-person collaboration as well as worker health and safety in mind. In order to facilitate those little interactions that can become big difference makers, organizations need to not only make it safe for workers to collaborate in person again–they need to make workers feel safe to collaborate in person again.
It starts with implementing health and safety protocols. It succeeds by getting workers to feel informed, invested and involved in the health and safety plan.
You don’t have to figure it out on your own. The International WELL Building Institute’s (IWBI’s) WELL Health-Safety Rating provides excellent, evidence-based health and safety protocols, as well as guidance for communicating to and with stakeholders every step of the way. Organizations can enroll their workplace(s) to be evaluated for a rating. If you make the grade, IWBI provides a promotional kit, in addition to offering WELL Health-Safety seals that can be displayed at entrances to promote peace of mind.
Looking to bring collaboration back to the office? Look to the WELL Health-Safety Rating.
