People no longer just go to work to work following the pandemic.
That鈥檚 the view of Will Lewis, director of OBI Property, at 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 latest business breakfast 鈥榃hy employers have to raise the bar in the modern workforce鈥�.
The event was held at in conjunction with pro-manchester and was hosted at the offices of law firm Trowers & Hamlins.
Will Lewis has helped secure some of the biggest occupiers to Manchester and said Covid-19 had ripped up the rule book.
鈥淧reviously the office was somewhere for people to turn up 聽and undertake their job,鈥� he said. 鈥淐ovid has turned it on its head.
鈥淢any businesses have changed the function of the office to use it as a place for cultural, social and for collaboration.
(L-R) Ian Makin, Laura Herbert, Will Lewis
鈥淲here people undertake their work could be anywhere. People like to bag the option of working where they want.
鈥楶eople do want flexibility. In reality people still go into the office every day but they still like that flexibility for those days when they want to work from home. Each business is very different.
鈥淚n terms of the future of the workplace it鈥檚 almost too early to tell. Those people who have gone very early may have made a mistake.
鈥淐ertain occupiers have downsized quite aggressively when this (Covid) was in its infancy. Will it revert to type? Probably not but certain sectors are embracing the office more than others.
鈥淗ow do you mentor, educate and train young talent if you鈥檙e not sat next to them?鈥�
Wayne Bennett, director of Fairmont Recruitment, told the audience that companies and applicants had to think carefully about recruitment.
L-R George Tilbury, Lucy Sunner, Wayne Bennett
鈥淲hether you鈥檙e an employee or an employer you have to know what you want before you start the journey,鈥� he said. 聽鈥淗ave an idea of where you would like to go.
鈥淭he pandemic has forced people to evaluate their work life balance and how work fits in rather than the other way round. That鈥檚 what has changed. I think it will balance out.鈥�
George Tilbury, commercial manager, ADT Workplace, helped advise Autocab on their recent move to Circle Square.
鈥淭he office is about getting people together and bringing people together,鈥� he said.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e still going to have to provide the basics of the office. The key word is agility.
鈥淲e need to try and bring to the table our expertise and show occupiers what we can do and what others are doing.
鈥淲e need to ask them 鈥榳hat do your staff want and why? What do you need to get your staff back in the office?鈥�
The other speakers were 聽Lucy Sunner, head of culture at Autocab; Ian Makin, co-founder and head of secure software at Naimuril; and Laura Herbert, head of people at Apadmi.
The event was hosted by 老九品茶Cloud’s executive editor Chris Maguire.