As the Australian workforce continues to evolve, so does the concept of work flexibility. What was once a rigid, 9-to-5 schedule has transformed into a more fluid and adaptable approach to work.

This evolution has been influenced by various factors, including advancements in technology, changing societal norms, and the recognition of the importance of work-life balance.

Morale in the workplace is often influenced by various factors, and one key aspect that greatly impacts this is the level of flexibility provided to employees.

When considering how to support the mental health and overall well-being of your team, take a closer look at the role that workplace flexibility plays in providing a supportive and healthy environment for your employees.

By understanding the implications of workplace flexibility on employee happiness and mental health, employers can effectively implement strategies to create a positive and thriving work culture for their team members.

Mike Radda, MillerKnoll Area VP for North Asia and Pacific discussed modern workplace flexibility with Ayesha Rashid at Digital Daily News.

How can organisations strike a balance between remote work and in-person collaboration to ensure employees benefit from both flexibility and meaningful connections?

Our research indicates that this balance is equally important to employees and employers. One of the findings from a global survey of 10,000 workers, we conducted as part of the Future Forum consortium. we found that only 15% of workers want to be fully remote.

Most employees (66%) prefer a hybrid arrangement in Australia. The top reason employees cite for wishing to be in the office is collaboration, in-person comradery, and meetings. In Australia, the balance is even more office orientated with 11% preferring fully remote, 75% preferring a hybrid arrangement and 14% wanting to be in the office full time.

Our research has found that Aussie workers value schedule flexibility (control over their calendars) even more than location flexibility, and many are stuck on calls more easily taken from home, which prevents more meaningful in-person interactions.

In other cases, if can be about the design of the office space, as it may not facilitate the interactions people are seeking. From a very recent (yet to be published) survey we completed in nine countries, we found that people rated their workplace most highly in supporting scheduled meetings but ranked lowest in supporting unstructured collaboration and the ability for large groups to meet for “on-site” gatherings.

This emphasises the importance of office design and how essential it to Design With Impact and ensure the workplace supports collaboration.

What specific strategies can Australian companies implement to support the holistic wellbeing of remote and hybrid workers, and how can these strategies be tailored to meet individual needs?

For us, holistic wellbeing encompasses physical, social, and cognitive factors. An important starting point is for employers to ensure that people have proper ergonomics equipment, both at the office and home.

They should also seek to ensure that people can connect and feel connected with one another and organisational leadership.

Engaging employees into how work processes and environments can change and support their needs, including where they work assists in the development of appropriate strategies and results in outcomes that support both organisational and individual needs.

 In a world where remote work is increasingly common, how can companies maintain a strong organisational culture that fosters innovation and camaraderie? Your opinion.

This is a complex question and successful outcomes are highly dependent on the strategies and plans of leaders, managers and team leaders.

Tools like team level agreements and more participative management processes help to foster an improved culture among distributed teams (regardless of whether they are working from offices or homes).

Recognition that the workplace is an important element of a company’s culture is an important starting point and a point from which leaders can bring their people together for meaningful times of trust-building, problem-solving, and future planning.

 Are there new technologies or tools that can help bridge the gap between remote and in-office employees, enhancing their ability to collaborate and build strong relationships?

There are many audio and video platforms, as well as asynchronous collaboration tools like OS365 and the G suite, that can help overcome distance, but the spaces we use to do our work need to be planned to accommodate them.

For example, we often see rooms with video cameras that weren’t designed with video in mind.

The room should be planned to ensure that everyone is within the view of the camera, that each co-located and remote participant can make eye contact, that cameras aren’t pointed at distracting backgrounds, and that someone hasn’t placed a chair with its back facing a camera. We’ve been studying how to create great places to support remote connection for decades, but we still see a lot of spaces out there that need improvement.

How can organisations foster adaptability and agility in their workforce, particularly in a hybrid work environment where change is a constant factor?

A key is enabling teams to be able to impact and greater control on their individual work practises.

This assists with motivation and commitment to the achievement of team goals.   Much of today’s work is accomplished through functional or project teams, establishing processes that enable teams to collaborate, then support individual work enhances outcomes and improvements in adaptability.

 What role does office design play in creating spaces that encourage both strong and weak ties among employees, and how can it support innovation and creativity in a hybrid workplace?

The office plays an enormously important role in strengthening both strong and weak ties to improve the health of social networks.

For strong ties, the key lies in allowing teams to have less structured and more in-depth conversations than video or chat platforms typically allow. Team neighbourhoods, project rooms, and other content-rich spaces are the key. For weak ties, it’s about bringing people together who have no reason to schedule a Zoom call with one another. Large team “on-site”, informal areas of socialisation, and project spaces can all serve these needs well.

 As remote work becomes more prevalent, what measures should companies take to ensure that employees remain engaged, productive, and loyal to the organisation?

Employee engagement tools are most critical, but we are also working on new methods of measuring the effectiveness of space in supporting employee needs.

Productivity metrics are very difficult to measure objectively and often favour individual versus group productivity, so we recommend goal-based performance management systems as a more objective means of determining how well the work is being accomplished.

Some of our customers – including Sydney-based Atlassian – are looking into new workplace metrics to support an enlightened view of how the office supports these goals beyond simple badge swipes.

How can organisations effectively communicate their commitment to employee wellbeing, meaningful connections, and adaptability in the new world of work to attract and retain top talent?

The best way is through a more participative, inclusive understanding of employee needs. If employees are engaged in developing solutions, then communicating the nature of those solutions becomes much easier (including a more inclusive design of workplace).

How can companies measure the success of their initiatives to support employee wellbeing, connections, and adaptability in a remote and hybrid working environment?

Surveys can be effective, but we also highly recommend focus groups. We can think of those who manage corporate real estate and facilities as product owners and the employees as users or customers.

Surveys can help measure broad patterns, but regular meetings with teams to ask them how their work and well-being are supported are of great value.