A nationwide telecommuting recommendation was lifted in Finland a month ago. With workers once again returning in growing numbers to their employers' premises, work routines and job atmosphere are also undergoing a rethinking.
Yle asked Professor Minna Huotilainen of the University of Helsinki, a researcher into cognition and learning, what some of the keys to a successful return to the office might be.
During telecommuting, interaction among colleagues has been strongly work-centred and task-oriented. Coffee break chats and shared lunch breaks may have been missing for a year and a half. This has had an impact.
"Telecommuting creates [a sense of] isolation. I believe that people have missed each other," Huotilainen points out.
She says that when returning to full-time or part-time work in common spaces, it is important to think about different ways in which people are genuinely brought together in work communities.
On the other hand, there are likely to be new employees who have not worked face to face with their colleagues at all. These new employees may not feel like part of the work community and under these changed conditions previous methods used to integrate newcomers may not be effective.
"One example of a well-functioning system could be a workplace breakfast to which everyone is expected to come," Huotilainen suggests.
Before the coronavirus pandemic and the widespread introduction of telecommuting, there were rarely days that included solely work tasks with no lighter interaction between co-workers. Physical presence makes human interaction much richer than it can be over the net.
"Just the way a co-worker walks into a conference room, slams his laptop down on the table and sits down, says a lot about what kind of mood he is in today," points out Huotilainen.
In the office, there is always time to exchange a word or two before any meeting. It gives a chance for a bit of socialising, to ask how someone is, to talk over matters not directly related to work. This kind of interaction is important for humans.
"This shows mutual acceptance, that I am interested in you and I am your co-worker. For this not to happen comes at a price," Huotilainen explains.
According to Huotilainen, telecommuting allows getting the work done, but building a work community and further developing the way things are done have fallen by the wayside, as there has been no natural space in which to talk casually about work.
She says workplaces need people working together to develop skills as partners and mentors.
"Concrete work tasks are a matter of organisation, but bringing the work community together is much more challenging," she stresses.
Huotilainen believes that many work communities want to see more days devoted to development when everyone comes in and discusses the future and makes plans.
There has also been a lot of meeting overkill, and employees need better-organised meetings.
"People have become much more demanding during this period. We think about our own use of time in more detail and that is a good thing," Huotilainen says.
Well before the emergence of the coronavirus and the widespread shift to telecommuting, it was recognised that interruptions slow work down and increase the probability of errors.
"If you are used to working in silence for a year and a half now, and return to an open plan office, the noise may seem much louder than before you started telecommuting," she notes.
While working off-site, most people have learned to rely on instant messaging, email, video conferencing, or traditional phone calls to ask questions. An answer came when the other party had the time to respond.
"I think employees are more demanding in terms of peaceful surroundings after having had the experience of what uninterrupted work is like," she says.
When working in closer quarters again, it's worthwhile giving more thought to when and how to interrupt others.
Huotilainen points out that people don't necessarily want to be a bother, but they do want to get answers. Every work community needs to think about what communication channels are now most appropriate, where questions can be answered when the time is right.
On the other hand, returning to the employer's premises can reduce the number of interruptions for those who have had a lot of family members around while working at home.
A new phenomenon at many workplaces may also be widespread resistance to a return to the office since certain jobs have been done more successfully at home. One answer employers are turning to is a hybrid work plan.
"It has been asked for a long time which space is best suited for any specific task. Now, we have the basis, I think, to answer that," says cognition and learning researcher Huotilainen.
Some employees get more work done at home, some at the office. According to Huotilainen, it is important to note when it is really necessary to be present at work, and which meetings it is appropriate to participate in.
"There may be new ways to arrange common telecommuting days and office days. Could one team be at work on Mondays and another on Tuesdays?" Huotilainen suggests.
She further suggests that even when working again on-site, the working day could be split into two four-hour periods, with a few hours in between to go outside or do something else relaxing.
"In my opinion, the lessons learned during telecommuting are solid ones for job development when we take notice of them and start using them in working life," Huotilainen sums up.
TetraSys Oy.