Covid-19 and the move towards homeworking has changed the tech sector鈥檚 approach to recruitment and the role of the office.
That鈥檚 the view of a panel of HealthTech and property experts spoken to by 老九品茶Cloud about what they wanted from their office space in a post-Covid world and how the pandemic had changed their business.
The UK HealthTech sector is worth 拢36bn and employs 127,400 people. There are more than 100 HealthTech companies that are valued between 拢200m-拢800m.
Will Lewis is the co-founder of OBI and said while the role of the office had changed as a result of Covid-19 he said it was more than just a place to work.
鈥淭he days of SME鈥檚 signing 15-year leases or 10-year leases without a break options are long gone,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen people go back to the office they鈥檒l inevitably adopt blended approach but I think there will be a bit of a bounce in people. I think people have forgotten some of the really good things about offices and about interacting with their team. Lots of people live in the city and haven鈥檛 got gardens or outside space. The office environment is a social leveller and people forget that.The blended way of working is here to stay but the office will remain key to the success of the majority of businesses and their culture?鈥�
Liz Ashall-Payne is the founder of leading health app evaluation platform ORCHA, which won 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 鈥楳eet the game-changing pioneers of tech鈥� event in 2017.
ORCHA is based at Sci-Tech Daresbury having previously been based at Baltic Triangle and Liverpool Science Park. The office moves have been driven by the pursuit of talent. Ashall-Payne said one of the changes from Covid-19 has been that their next recruit could be from anywhere in the world. 鈥淲e鈥檙e less worried where we鈥檙e going to get that talent from,鈥� she said, 鈥渨e鈥檙e just looking for talent.鈥�
The entrepreneur said ORCHA had revised its office requirements after seeing how productive staff were while working from home. 鈥淥ne of the things we had on our plans was to take over a whole floor at Daresbury by the end of this year and we鈥檙e definitely not going to be doing that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think we鈥檒l keep the floor space that we鈥檝e got and use it very differently.鈥�
She added that creating a HealthTech cluster in the North West would be a game-changer. 鈥淗aving a HealthTech hub in the same way that the media has a hub at MediaCity would be phenomenal,鈥� she said.
Dom Raban is the chair of Corporation Pop and the founder and CEO of Xploro, which he launched in 2011 after his daughter was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to do something because he was concerned about the amount of information given to children going into hospital.
He predicted the function of the office has changed since the pandemic. 鈥淚 think we鈥檒l use our office as a meeting space and not a dedicated working space,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat we found was teams working more remotely were actually being more productive. What鈥檚 important from our space is that it facilitates good interactions for our people.鈥�
Dr Lucy Buckley is the co-founder of Dr Fertility, which has seen its turnover grow by 80 per cent in the last year and its customer base grow to more than 30,000 customers. Dr Fertility is currently trying to raise 拢1.75m to fund its future growth strategy and Dr Buckley said Covid-19 and the move towards homeworking had changed their approach to recruitment. 鈥淟ocation is not as important to us anymore,鈥� she said.
James Chapman is the co-founder of Liverpool-based Safe Steps, which is a digital falls risk assessment tool, designed to reduce the number of falls for older people. Safe Steps has been picked up by the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme and employs five people.
鈥淲e are working in a sector that is going through a technological revolution,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he pandemic is only going to accelerate that.鈥� Chapman said Covid-19 had changed their approach to getting their own office. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working remotely and it鈥檚 worked incredibly well for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e based in Liverpool Science Park. We鈥檝e been co-habiting with our angel investors in year one. It makes sense as it kept our rents down.
鈥淚nterestingly, for the second half of this year, we were looking at getting our own space. This enforced change of working has made me reflect and go 鈥榳hy?鈥� Why do I need to pay rent for 365 days a year when actually the social and strategy model of coming together maybe once a week or once a fortnight and paying for some space might be a better, cheaper solution and give us that balance.鈥�
Rory Cameron is the CEO of , which has developed the Intellin app to calculate an individual鈥檚 risk of developing complications from their diabetes based on their clinical history. It鈥檚 based at Alderley Park, in Cheshire.
He said in his experience it was the younger generation who found working from home the hardest. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got groups in their 20s who have actually really struggled working from home,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ome of those wanted to stay in the office all the way through. We have given money and helped people to make their home environment as comfortable as possible to work in.
鈥淢oving forward we won鈥檛 need everyone in the office. In actual fact for the people doing the development work and the coding work they鈥檝e been much more productive at home. I think it鈥檚 about agreeing some strategic white board space. I like being in the office but for many people it鈥檚 about providing that flexibility.鈥�
Bridie Oldroyd is an account director Leeds-based EMIS Health, which provides software to GPs and pharmacies, helping them to manage practices and keep patient records.
At the time of the roundtable she said EMIS Health was planning to have people back in the office from September. 鈥淭he experience that we have is that people actually miss being in the office now and having that communication with people,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost people are really looking forward to getting back into it.鈥�
Zillah Moore is the marketing director at Yorkshire-based Tunstall Healthcare, which pioneered the use of technology to support those requiring care and health intervention to live independently in their chosen home setting.
She said: 鈥淲e do have people who want to come back (into the office). It does impact on creativity. We have a lot of social distancing measures in place. We recognised it (homeworking) was starting to affect the mental health of some of the employees.鈥�
Andy Atha is the director of operations at Manchester-based Push Doctor, which works in partnership with NHS practices, PCNs and CCGs across the country to provide the platform and technology to allow safe and secure video consultations with NHS GPs.
He said Push Doctor operated a flexible working environment which helped the switch to remote working when Covid-19 struck. He said there was no pressure on staff to return the office but many of them wanted to. 鈥淭here are definitely some people who are really keen to get back into the office,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ome people haven鈥檛 enjoyed being stuck at home.鈥� He said the role of the office had changed post-Covid and would be used if employees wanted to be around other people or wanted to hold a strategic meeting.鈥�
David Foreman is the managing director of Manchester-based investor Praetura Ventures, which backs early-stage businesses in high-value sectors.
He said Covid had not only changed what they required from their office but the way staff worked from home. Praetura have introduced a 鈥榮witch-off policy鈥� so when people are off work they don鈥檛 have access to their emails, shared files etc. 鈥淲e鈥檙e effectively making sure they take a full week break and not think about work,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s connectivity has increased in the last five years people are always 鈥榦n鈥�. I鈥檝e been there myself, checking emails at 3am in the bathroom on holiday.鈥�
He said Covid presented a real opportunity for employees to trust their staff and not stipulate how long they work in the office 鈥淧ost-Covid we will have an office,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e moved into our office in June last year and it鈥檚 a lovely space to work. I think there鈥檚 a real opportunity with this forced pause to look at all of your employer engagement. Having said all that I think we鈥檒l still predominately recruit people from the North West.鈥�
The other people to take part in the discussion were Louise Kitchingham, communications and PR manager at iPLATO Healthcare; Dr Jing Ouyang, COO and co-founder, Patchwork; Dr Anas Nader, co-founder and CEO, Patchwork; and Lauren Bevan, head of health and social care, BJSS.