How Companies Can Support Work-From-Home Best Practices in the Long Term

Most organizations have adopted work-from-home practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as Gensler and others eye a strategic and safe return to the office, many are now considering integrating modified schedules and partial remote working to accommodate physical distancing and other health and wellness practices. While much of the workforce is now in a work-from-home groove, Gensler’s recent U.S. Work From Home Survey found that the vast majority of people want to return to the office, albeit with critical changes. Many also want to continue to work from home at least some of the time. The movement to a more permanent work-from-home reality has raised the possibility that residential design will need to offer new solutions. At the very least, multi-family buildings may need to rethink amenities to better suit the at-home worker. The need for flexibility in residential units could also boil to the surface. Future designs could allow people to add office space or master bedrooms (in case college-age children need to return home for remote learning during another health crisis).