Google spends a lot of money on its offices in the UK. They didn’t get the memo from California? Image: Google
Work preferences may change, but that’s not stopping Google from considering a return to office life.
Earlier this month, Google announced it would spend $1 billion on its central London offices. The tech giant also expects its workforce to grow from 6,400 to 10,000. Ronan Harris, the boss of Google UK, told the BBC the company is keen to see a return to office life.
Harris said Google’s new workspaces will be reimagined to do hybrid and flexible work. This suggests that Google is not betting on a return to the pre-pandemic era of the desktop.
A new attempt to return to the face-to-face under the guise of hybrid work
Google’s office-buying spree has raised some eyebrows. “Google’s major investment in London property could be a show of confidence in returning to office work. But that confidence is misplaced and short-sighted,” says Callum Adamson, CEO and co-founder of the software company Distributed.
He believes Google’s investment is yet another attempt by big business to return to in-person work under the guise of hybrid working. “Having a desk is a pre-pandemic relic that is, at best, detrimental to employee experience and business success,” he argues.
Many companies have shown interest in pursuing remote working to some extent. Others – including some big tech companies – have been more reluctant to acknowledge that most people don’t want to spend most of their adult lives in an office, or commuting.
“Restarting some of the innovation that was lost during the pandemic”
That’s not to say that everyone thinks the office is dead. People always want (and maybe even need) a space where they can meet and connect with their colleagues.
“The desktop, in one form or another, will always have a role to play in the business world,” says Rob Walker, managing director of IT company Cognizant for the UK and Italy. Mr Walker, however, believes companies that continue to invest in their property at the same level as before the pandemic are “betting on the wrong horse”.
“Business leaders who recognize this fact quickly will have a much easier time sustaining a strong corporate culture and restarting some of the innovation that was lost during the pandemic. People need to get back into these new spaces of their own accord, while having the flexibility that many now expect from employers.”
A bet for Google
Increasingly, technology is here to support remote working at scale. It may have been difficult in 2020, but since then companies have had the opportunity to iron out the difficulties.
Management can be trickier in a remote environment, but employers may not need to worry about it if it translates to a boost in productivity. “We know that creating a remote work network that mimics the office experience reduces employee training costs, is faster and easier to deploy, and improves employee productivity,” says James Bristow, SVP EMEA of Cradlepoint.
Those who don’t give in to new employee expectations for flexible working also risk losing valuable talent. “In this context, Google’s recent investment in offices in London is a bet,” adds James Bristow. “Employees, especially those who can easily do their jobs remotely, always want the ability to work from anywhere, not just from home.”
Martin Bodley, director and global head of Bose Work, argues that better remote working technology, and greater familiarity with it, means people can work flexibly without it disrupting creativity and work. ‘team. “When designing the post-pandemic workplace, companies have the opportunity to make employees feel like they’re sitting in a room right next to each other, wherever they are, by removing the obligation for everyone to be in the office”, he says.
Google admits there will be a lot of trial and error over the next two years, trying to figure out what the terms “hybrid” and “flexible” really mean. The company, of course, has all the tools it needs to make the hybrid work: after all, it’s testing fancy hybrid meeting and workspaces in the US, though it also wants employees to return to their desks.
The company has previously said it expects the majority of its employees to work from their desks at least three days a week, and in the United States those who choose to relocate or work remotely can expect this. have their salary adjusted accordingly.
By investing $1 billion, Google is betting that the office is still relevant, despite all the changes that have taken place in our professional lives over the past two years. We will probably have to wait at least that long – and probably longer – to see if this bet pays off.
Source: “ZDNet.com”