Working from home or not working from home after corona? That’s the corporate question of the day? Is your house still a home if it becomes a workplace? Is a home a private environment or not anymore? Is Zoom the new meeting and will inspiration become digital? I don’t think so. Inspiration is the sharing of energy and that never works digitally. Does it? Even with the best AI technology, emotion cannot be digitized. True? When people come together, something great happens, usually something new. Sharing inspiration is an important foundation for the necessary creative process on which companies build their future and their perspective. Working from home or tele-working from the tropical Islands of the Maldives is a great temporary emergency solution and certainly offers perspective in a better flexibility of the classic Monday to Friday and nine to five culture. So, tele-working is the next level of out-of-office-working? Probably.

“INSPIRATION IS THE SHARING OF ENERGY AND THAT NEVER WORKS DIGITALLY.”

On March 15th 2020 we all received the urgent and compelling request to go home. Staying at home was our first vaccine against the life-threatening virus COVID-19. Everyone really stayed at home, because no one knew if the virus would really be that deadly. Staying at home and working from home became the foundations of the new normal in which entire office buildings were abandoned. A new ‘waste of space’ became visible and the harrowing traffic jam problem disappeared like snow in front of the sun. In 2006 I wrote a book (Infarct!) about the impending traffic infarction. My prediction was that the morning and evening rush hour would merge in 2020. The cause? Our nine to five office culture. Everyone rushes to the office in the morning and home in the evening in the reverse stress. The traffic jams have disappeared under the requirement of maximum working from home. Fortunately, we live in a digital society in which working from home was also quickly arranged. The companies and organizations that were not tele-ready have undoubtedly let the digital revolution passing by.

“WORKING FROM HOME IS THE NEW NORM, THE NEW NORMAL?”

The sexy office with a fancy office garden and coffee corner are out-of-office? I was never a fan of the office garden. It really seems like a typical Dutch invention. Wonderfully efficient, measurable and cheaper than the cozy office model. No, the so called ‘New Way of Working’ was too much of a ‘Spreadsheet Management’ in which the costs are more important than the effectiveness. Looking for a free seat in the morning, not knowing where and if your team is nearby and making small talks at the coffee machine only cannot be the main ingredients for a unique company culture. The corona crisis immediately shows that the concept is not virus-proof and hopefully the era of the random workplace has disappeared. Never waste a good crisis, right?! Working from home is the new norm, the new normal? I really hope not. Is a house and a private family home meant to work in? Does every house get an office in the former garage or bedroom? Are we going to buy an air conditioner or an office garden house in the summer? No, of course not.

“THE ‘NEW OFFICE’ WILL EXPERIENCE ITS BIRTH AFTER THIS CORONA CRISIS.”

A company exists by the grace of the power of the organization. The organization is the engine of the company and determines its success. The vision, mission, goal, strategy, purpose, culture, results and successes are determined by and with each other. Not by sitting at home behind a screen to get a warm bond with each other digitally and virtually. The ‘New Office’ will experience its birth after this corona crisis. It will be an inspiring, welcoming brand experience where colleagues are inspired and recharged every week to become even stronger together. The word office will certainly go to the trash and so will the word work and employees. The old office has become the new Meeting Center and meeting management has now become a challenge. Onemeeting.com has developed an Office Solution and that supports the office management.

The Office Meeting Management system of Onemeeting.com helps companies with the complete planning and organization of their oh so important meetings. The better the meeting, the greater the joint success.

Two gather, makes together.