Inspirational spaces

A survey of directors and employees of Cambridge based companies is reported to have found ‘widespread concern’ among workers about the long-term consequences of remote working.

Four out of five of those polled said they were now spending less time in the office than before the pandemic.

The survey revealed a variety of positive reasons for remote working, including cost saving and environmental benefits, although around half of respondents believed that collaboration between teams had deteriorated and that creativity had suffered by not being able to exchange ideas with colleagues in the same room.

Other issues included helping new starters and younger employees as well as maintaining the company’s identity.

While the shift to working from home has clear benefits for certain demographics – and will continue to positively impact our industry as homeowners invest in more space – forward thinking companies have realised they need to work harder to encourage staff back to their desks.

I have visited numerous companies since the start of the year, three of which have clearly been designed to promote employee wellbeing and enhance productivity.

The most recent was Purplex Marketing’s new offices in Weston Super Mare, which were brimmed with TV and movie memorabilia, themed rooms and a fully kitted out gym.

If there were a few more offices like this in Cambridge, I suspect the results of the aforementioned survey might have been quite different…