Possibly the biggest decision for Business Owners in 2021 is what their workplace will look like.

My clients and I have been working through creating a Workplace Plan for 2021 where we map out the workplace in relation to physical (employees attending business premises) and remote working arrangements (employees working from home).

Let’s pull apart the physical & remote workplace dilemma.

It starts with an assessment of the pros and cons of the two options.

Pros – Physical Workplace

Management ensure attendance and monitor productivity
Employees and teams are easily accessible by each other
Employees can easily access management for direction or support
Interaction and meetings are in-person
Morale and culture are enhanced by the team being together
Spontaneous decisions can be made with the workforce together and information flows quickly
Information can be easily shared through the collision-zones of the workplace where employees interact in the kitchen, the warehouse and office
Employees attending a workplace may be more productive

Cons – Physical Workplace

Employees have to travel into work at a financial cost
Employee travel is unpaid and may cause fatigue
Some employees may be less efficient due to interruption or disruption
Work/Life balance of employees can suffer where they have a long work commute
Employees may be subject to workplace harassment or gender inequality in some workplaces

Pros – Remote Workplace

Employees working remotely have more time without travel to their workplace
Employees save money as there is no cost to commute to the workplace
Employees working from home may report improved work/life balance
Employees can use saved travel time or their lunchtime to exercise, interact with family, attend to errands or spend time on their hobbies & interests
Employees may report greater job satisfaction in working from home
Employees argue they are more productive working from home

Cons – Remote Workplace

Management may find it more difficult and time consuming to get teams or individuals together for online meetings
Absenteeism and productivity may be harder to monitor remotely
Professional development may be restricted through less in-person teaching and supervision, particularly for junior & intermediate staff
Morale and culture may be impacted by the team not interacting together in-person and working remotely
Direction of staff and clarity of instruction may be impaired within a remote workplace
There may be inefficiencies in communicating 1-1 with staff through virtual mediums such as Zoom
Some staff member’s mental health may suffer through no personal interaction with team members
Staff may struggle to be efficient working from home with multiple family members, or young families, within the home while working
Individual staff may have restricted office and technology requirements to support them at home

These are just some of the many pros and cons that business owners consider need to assess in determining their workplace during and after a pandemic.

Business owners have struggled to grapple with, in many cases, their entire workforce working remotely through 2020.

Employees have also struggled to adjust working remotely and still feel they are making a valuable contribution to their employer.

The dilemma now is for business owners and their teams to agree on what the workplace looks like for the year ahead.

The workplace should generally not be entirely physical nor entirely remote. Most business workplaces will be a hybrid model of workdays at the workplace combined with remote workdays working from home.

Establish a Workplace Plan 1.0

Excluding the outliers of 5-day remote (for example – online business) and 5-day physical (for example – warehousing), most businesses will adopt a 2,3 or 4-day physical workplace with employees attending a set number of given days physically at the business’ workplace.

Here are my considerations in establishing your Workplace Plan 1.0

Outline the nature of your work. What are the key steps from commencement to product/service delivery?
Within those steps, what elements need to be done physically and what steps can be done remotely?
Assess Customer/Supplier/Logistics/Management expectations operationally within each step.
On Employees, assess the different cohorts within your business. For example, if you are a product business, you may have warehouse., sales, IT, Finance/Admin, Management etc.
Map out physical workdays to ensure cohorts meet together as required.
Within these cohorts, consider particular employees that may need to be in attendance on a more regular basis physically. Examples include graduates, junior staff, warehouse and traditional admin support people.
Within these cohorts, consider particular employees that are more suited to a remote working model. For example, IT, finance and sales.
Draft a 2,3,4 & 5 Day physical workday model based on the different cohorts and considering the days in which they need to be physically at work.
Draft a Workplace Plan 1.0
Trial Workplace Plan 1.0 for 90-120 Days (3-6 months)

Prepare this plan on an inclusive basis with your team, emphasising that it is a trial and feedback will be monitored throughout.

Implement & Trial

Implement and trial your plan for the 90-180 period.

Seek weekly/monthly feedback loops from all cohorts.

At the end of the trial period, review the plan and make amendments to the physical/remote working arrangements of individuals and cohorts based on feedback and overall experience.

Create a Workplace Plan 2.0 and trial it again for 90-180 days.

Remember that no plan will be perfect. It will need to be reviewed, tweaked and re-set.

The key is to have a Workplace Plan, get buy-in from your internal (employees, management) and external cohorts (customers/suppliers) and listen to feedback.

You must be kind to yourself in understanding that you will not please everyone and perfection is definitely not the endgame sought. The goal is to be fair and balanced in seeking an efficient and effective model that supports the business in providing high quality products/services on time, cost and quality to your target market.

Be brave and bold in implementing your Workplace Plan. It will change but be proactive, transparent and progressive in solving the physical versus remote workplace dilemma.

I write blogs & videos just like this one on business, productivity and human development. If you'd like it delivered straight to your inbox head to https://darrenkbourke.com/the-fourth-moon-blog and let me know your email.

Email me at darren@darrenkbourke.com to schedule a meeting (at no cost or obligation) to discuss how I can help you re-platform from crisis this year.