๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ข๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ช๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐Ÿข

Earlier this week, Amazon's CEO said in a memo to staff:
"Weโ€™ve decided that weโ€™re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of Covid..."

Some have argued that this is a strategy to get people to quit...?
If that's the case, they are such a behemoth that I'm sure they will have no shortage of hungry workers looking to fill any gaps.

For organisations embracing hybrid flexible policies, here are a few tips to help you create an office space that employees want to return to, with or without mandates.

1. ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฑ: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ.
Many companies still believe that the key to improving productivity and collaboration is mandating a return to the office based on the outdated idea that being seen equates to being productive.

However, according to a recent Forbes article, 62% of employees feel less engaged when forced back into the office without flexibility.๐Ÿ“‰

2. ๐—œ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ: ๐—ฃ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜.
๐Ÿš€ Instead of enforcing a one-size-fits-all approach, take a step back and evaluate what your people need and want. Your staff should be central to your strategy, not just an afterthought.

3. ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต.
What makes your team tick? โฐ Are they early birds or night owls? ๐ŸŒ…๐ŸŒ™ Are they in sales, development, or marketing? Do they thrive in teams or prefer to work solo?

These are the questions I ask my clients when discussing their workspaces. Sometimes, Iโ€™m met with blank stares: โ€œWhy does it matter?โ€

๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€:
- ๐˜๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜น๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ด? ๐˜—๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต.
- ๐˜๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ-๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต? ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต. ๐˜—๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ-๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ. ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ

Youโ€™ll discover the optimal space design when you truly understand what your people need. This will save you cash ๐Ÿ’ฐ in the long run.

4. ๐—˜๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.
This is your chance to update systems, review your organisational structure and rethink how your business can thrive in a digital-first world where most employees arenโ€™t fully engaged. ๐ŸŒ

Do you think Amazon care about any of this?
Are there any other ideas that you think are crucial to consider?

Thanks for reading

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