Across the globe, nations are tentatively moving to release their national lockdowns as the spread of the Coronavirus abates, and vaccination programmes protect many of the most vulnerable from the worst effects of this virus. Many hope this is the last time economies and communities go into lockdown. If that is the case, many areas of working life will need to be changed - and changed for good.
Knowledge working has been protected from the worst ravages of the pandemic, with administrators, technologists and leaders continuing their roles from desks at home. A growing number of studies demonstrate that organisations and their staff expect home working to continue as an element of the week for many knowledge workers. As a result, organisations will need to reconsider the role of the office.
The office, in its simplest form, took the thinking of the industrial revolution and transplanted it to knowledge work, and as the CIO and CTO community know all too well, much of that work is not actually bound by place. But claims that we no longer needed office buildings and commercial hubs is pie in the sky.