Can we rehumanise the workplace and still work remotely?

First published on COMUNiTI, October 2023

Many organisations continue to question their position on hybrid work. And it’s understandable, given that it’s such a multifaceted challenge.

On one hand, leaders are thinking about what’s best for the business:

🧐  Are people productive when they work at home?

🧐  What does hybrid work mean for our investment in office space?

🧐  If people don’t work from the office full-time, should they still ‘own’ a desk?

And on the other hand, they’re considering what’s best for employees:

🤔   If we introduce a ‘number of in-office days’ policy, does it erode trust and trigger turnover?

🤔  How do we balance the need for individual flexibility and team connection?

🤔  What impact is hybrid work having on culture?

As they ponder these questions and more, they often ask COMUNiTI for our insights. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, we do believe that humanising the approach to h...

Down the East Coast of Australia and in the West, I’ve had some really interesting conversations with business leaders lately, as we navigate the workplace dynamics that are emerging in our post-pandemic world. 

Here are two trends that I’m observing, and they are consuming many workplace strategy conversations right now, particularly as organisations are acutely focused on managing psychosocial risks.

Workplace Dynamic #1:  Digital collaboration continues, but IRL

What’s happening?

Meetings are continuing to happen on Teams or Zoom, despite the fact that all the people who need to be at the meeting are in the same office. That’s right! People are logging onto digital platforms with their noise-canceling headphones to collaborate when they might be sitting just a couple of seats or rows away from each other.

Why it’s happening

When I dig into this dynamic, teams tell me that it’s driven by two key things:

• Firstly, office noise. Their pre-COVID open-plan office isn’t desig...

Every year I set an intention — one word that sums up how I plan to experience the year ahead. That word becomes my north star and helps guide decisions about where I invest my time and energy.

In 2022, my word was ‘spaciousness’.

And with good reason! I was a pregnant Mum of two, getting ready to welcome child number four into our blended family, and I was also at the helm of a growing business with a fully booked schedule and a small team.

I couldn’t have been happier and more grateful. But I also felt like I couldn’t breathe from the pressure (and probably from a growing baby pressing against my ribs!).

I needed to create space — space to take maternity leave and be present in my baby bubble in those very precious early weeks, and space for my team to step up and continue delivering client projects and growing the business… or so I thought.

Here are my lessons and top tips for planning to take maternity leave or an extended break from your business.

Lesson #1: Don’t assume you...

Picture this: you’re meandering down a winding path. The air is heavy with an earthy fragrance. You can feel the temperature cooling your skin as you move through the rainforest. There’s a mosaic of dappled shadows on the mossy forest floor, created by the light as it peeks through the green canopy above. The background noise dampens. Your heart rate slows. You take a deep breath. 

Where did you picture yourself? In the Daintree Rainforest? 

What if I told you this experience is a reality for more than 300 employees who work at New Zealand’s biggest litigation firm, in the middle of Auckland’s CBD?

It’s an impressive example of how biophilic design is becoming a mainstream strategy to support employee wellbeing in the workplace. 

Nestled among the Meredith Connell high-rise offices, is a temperature-controlled 2-storey glass terrarium, designed to emulate the native New Zealand rainforest experience. There are meeting rooms and sitting nooks tucked among it, and it’s a place of r...

Just a few weeks ago I was putting yellow smarties on a lime-green dinosaur cake to celebrate my little guy's 1st birthday! Today I'm cake decorating again (minus the lime-green 😂) because COMUNiTI turns 10! 

To celebrate our 10 year milestone we created a series to showcase the awesome people who have shared in our journey. It’s been so rewarding — not only reflecting on everything we’ve achieved — but also thinking deeply about the next 10 years and what lies ahead for COMUNiTI and how we will continue to influence our human experience of work. 

It may have taken 100 years and a global pandemic to redefine the notion of ‘work’ and ‘workplace’, but I believe there are so many more fascinating changes just around the corner.

For example, research has shown a significant causal relationship between open-plan office noise and physiological stress. In parallel, other studies are putting forward a strong and measurable business case for integrating more biophilia in workplace design...

I don't want to use the word 'pivot'. It's so overused. But I will, because you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

The global pandemic forced many in the commercial design industry to pivot. 
 

• What happens if people no longer ‘go’ to work?
• What if corporate property portfolios are no longer needed?
• What value do we bring if we’re not building anything?

At COMUNiTI we’d been exploring these outer edges of the industry for a while — we were delivering workplace strategies that pushed beyond office design, and that saw us collaborating with HR and Finance departments to address a mix of interconnected challenges — performance, people, property, profitability.

But the pandemic gave one almighty push in redefining mainstream definitions of ‘work’ and ‘workplace’, and if I’m honest, it has really elevated the discourse between the corporate world and commercial designers.

Clients we work with are often surprised when I explain that the notion of work being the 9 to 5, Monday to...

 It was 2016. We landed Air New Zealand as a client. We were ready for take-off!

By 2016 COMUNiTI [known as MARSDEN Collective back then] was three years into our business journey and we had established a head office, built a team, and created a host of workplace designs that we were super proud of including multiple stages of a project with Plantation Homes — one of Queensland’s most awarded builders, Buildsafe, and the West Coast Eagles. Yep, the AFL team! 

And then, Air New Zealand invited us to fly to Auckland to pitch our vision for converting an old baggage area, in Melbourne, into an airport lounge.

I knew we’d be up against some of the biggest competitors in the industry. We were a relatively small and unknown brand, but we were a mighty and highly experienced team, and we threw everything at this opportunity. 

We won the contract. 
I distinctly remember this moment. 
I felt like we’d really made it.

On reflection, it was about more than just landing an impressive brand lik...

 21 kids. 30 team members. 10 years. The COMUNiTI Crew has achieved a lot! 

As part of COMUNiTI’s 10 year celebration I want to celebrate our network of employees, contractors, and collaborators. Our team size has ebbed and flowed over the years as we scaled the business and repositioned ourselves, and throughout the journey there’s so many who have been dedicated to our success and an incredible support network for my family and I.
 
If you run a business or lead a team I’m sure you’ll agree — teamwork is a special kind of magic. When people come together and minds meet, sparks fly. Teams bring simple joy to the toughest days. They share hopes for the future and make the plans to get there even better through creativity and fun. And over time, teams forge deep connections that go far beyond work itself. At COMUNiTI, the idea of our team being a ‘family’ is more than a cute label — our wider team has included 21 kids over our 10 year history, and counting! 

As we’ve shared our journe...

 In the 10 years that COMUNiTI has been designing workplaces and I've been supporting individuals to live a life by design, a megatrend has emerged: wellbeing. 

For business, in the early days, this meant focusing on injury management and occupational health — hello ergonomic chairs! Then the focus broadened to include proactive physical wellbeing — in some workplaces this meant replacing cookie jars with fruit bowls and offering lunchtime yoga, or my fav, the Step Challenge! In recent years, and certainly inside the most progressive organisations, health and wellbeing has become systemic — it’s considered through the lens of emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing, and it’s supported through all aspects of the workplace environment, the design of work itself, and leadership mindsets and behaviours.

It was a Podcast conversation with Dr Gary Webb, from Mars Inc (yep, the global manufacturer of some of your favourite snacks), that crystallised what I had been observing and experienc...

"I'm going to the hills of Mullumbimby to live off-grid with chickens and my art studio!" 

This is my go-to threat that I shout at the universe when things get tough.  

It’s a half-joking, half-serious kind of release that usually signals I’m in the weeds and need to take a step back, a deep breath, [maybe pour a glass of wine] and look at my career and business with a more elevated perspective.

It’s the field mouse versus the eagle analogy that Samantha Wills and I talked about in Episode 56 of the Work Life by Design Podcast.

If you’re not familiar with Samantha Wills, she’s a creative entrepreneur from Bondi whose self-titled jewellery quickly earned world attention after being worn by the likes of Taylor Swift and  Eva Mendes and appearing in the Sex and the City 2 movie. Now based in New York, Samantha went on to build and then sell her hugely successful business, and she shares this journey in her book: of Gold and Dust.

Needless to say, when Samantha accepted an inv...