For many decades, the word “work” and “office” were synonymous concepts. But after two years of remote and hybrid working, organisations are struggling to persuade employees back to office-based work.

It’s not just that successive lockdowns taught office-based workers that they could work happily and productively from home. Months of hybrid working has taught them that what now lies at the end of every commute is a day of back-to-back Zoom calls and little opportunity for the hoped-for face-to-face contact and collaboration.

So, what does that mean for our office spaces? In short, they need to be repositioned and redesigned to support the work we do now.

The most important element when redesigning the role of the office is purpose: when people choose a job, they choose a culture. If your office space and your approach to using it are aligned with your overall purpose, then you will attract talent that wants to work the way you do – whether that’s five days in the office a week or a fully remote environment.

You can learn more about this topic by listening to founder of HSM Advisory, Prof. Lynda Gratton on the Wall Street Journal The Future of Everything podcast here.