Can the Office Avoid Becoming a Cultural Misfit?

The cultural misfit arises naturally from the concept of cultural fit. Just as you have people who fit in, you'll have individuals who don't. But what if the cultural misfit isn’t simply an individual but a whole way of working?

Where the pandemic blew the debate on office culture wide open, the journey back to normality has added fuel to the flames. It’s not as simple as labelling one way of working as inferior to another: working from home isn’t inherently superior or more evolved than working in an office.

The term “office culture” has become pejorative. It evokes images of long hours in poor accommodation, inappropriate behaviour and a general lack of motivation.

But it’s misleading to talk about office culture as if it was a single entity. There are multiple office cultures, each dependent on the values of the individual enterprise or organisation concerned.

Culture-led Businesses

If we start from the basis that there is no single office culture, we can look at what culture means in a work context.

Essentially, it’s a common set of values, promoted by a business and supported by its employees. Consequently, a business can't assess whether a prospective employee will be a good cultural fit unless it has defined its culture first.

"By defining, growing and consolidating this culture, a business builds its own solid foundation for development and productivity. "

Motivation and satisfaction are core factors in enabling these things to happen. More and more businesses are recognising that cultural fit is a critical part of the recruitment and retention of staff. Conversely, cultural misfit can damage your culture and, therefore, your business.

Leadership and Culture

If you need to impose your culture on your workforce, you've probably already lost them. The Great Resignation describes substantial numbers of the workforce leaving their existing jobs since the pandemic. For some, the impact of the pandemic caused this shift in priorities. But for others, the culture of their workplaces has been a deciding factor. Poor leadership is causing businesses to lose employees. And the Great Resignation is far from over. A recent global survey found that half of US workers would rather resign than be forced back to the office.

"This begs the question, why is this even an issue? What type of leadership approach favours this?"

Healthy workplace cultures aren’t based on a command-and-control model, but rather on getting employees on board with company values. Good leaders align their values with the values of their organisation and the people in it. Plus, there are innovative ways of redesigning the office and its infrastructure to encourage flexible, hybrid ways of working.

Designing Better Workplaces

If forcing people back to work is a no-no, so is perpetuating remote working when you’ve not got the proper infrastructure to support it. Whereas working from home (WFH) can be seen as beneficial and progressive, it’s not an absolute, perfect solution. The risk is that it becomes a case of the tail wagging the dog. Research suggests WFH can improve productivity, but this is largely dependent on remote workers structuring their day properly.

An alternative, or a set of alternatives, comes with hybrid working. This is a much-talked-about concept that is still relatively new. Fundamentally, it's centred on the idea that not all employees need to be on-site, nor should they work from home exclusively. It's about achieving a balance between remote and office-based working that suits the business and its employees.

To ensure effective hybrid working, first employers must create a fully-equipped hybrid workforce. A critical element here will be new, advanced technologies, including the strategic implementation of AI. This should enable individuals and teams to work and collaborate seamlessly from both remote and office locations.

Growing a Hybrid Community

ONS reports that hybrid working is on the rise, but if hybrid working is here to stay, it will require bold placemaking strategies.

Ultimately, the aim should be to grow hybrid communities that offer permanent flexibility for employers and employees. Major factors that will determine the success of these communities include:

- Workplace layout, going beyond the traditional workstation

- Wellbeing, including health-promoting amenities alongside the optimisation of natural light and ventilatio

- Transport infrastructure, to reduce commuting time and encourage flexibility in work hours

- Interactivity and socialisation, to ensure workplaces are welcoming and offer an attractive alternative to WFH.

The fundamental factor in helping businesses move towards hybrid working will be data. This should inform critical decisions impacting workforces and the design of hybrid workspaces, including their infrastructure and amenities.

Will hybrid communities become the norm, providing a new, dynamic form of office culture?

Join the discussion at Pattern.

Pattern’s guests this time included:

Harry Hoodless, Founder, Studio Hoodless

Jemma Hynes, Founder, FoodSync

Martin Lucass, Commercial Director, GeoSmart

Leanne Wookey, Interiors Director, TP Bennett

Stephen Morgan-Hyland, Planning Director, Maddox Planning

Pattern provides the perfect platform for discussing vital placemaking issues and ideas.

For more details, please contact: william@partisan.studio