Context-

When everyone went to the office, the Era of pre-COVID (AD, BC, and now PC).  I feel like things have changed significantly.  During PC, the dinosaurs went to the office from 9 am to 5 pm.  Heck, there was even a movie about it, “Working 9-5” with Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin… I digress.  Anyway, during that time, remote work wasn’t the norm; you had to beg leadership for a laptop to work from home and catch up on tasks, as the office was too distracting.  People flew coast to coast just to be in the office Monday to Thursday, 9-5, and then took a red eye to work Friday, only to be on a plane at 3 pm on Sunday. Then Covid – March 13!  First Trump Presidency, closing the borders; we aren’t letting in the virus, bring all US Citizens and legal residents’ home, students in study abroad – bring them home by Friday.  The world is ending on March 13^th; it was like something out of Hollywood or a nightmare, or all of it.

But work, productivity, and life must continue!  This is not a vacation, not sick leave, people gotta eat, companies gotta report earnings to the street, kids need to go to school!  We quickly realized that Zoom wasn’t about speeding through a car; it was a verb and a noun, meaning getting online, synonymous with online video conferencing (BTW, much to the dismay of RingCentral, Microsoft Teams, and Webex)  to meet family, friends, and colleagues, and working longer and harder than we ever did in the office.  There was no stopping work or school – it was continuous!  We are connected!  Connected, regardless of pandemic, regardless of geography, and that meant you could now work US hours in Malaysia or Ibiza or hike in Denver! It also meant that there was no longer a defined set of working hours because you were stranded, and there is only so much Netflix you can watch! Being on Zoom, RingCentral, Teams, and Webex enabled us to work online and be more productive than we were in the office.   It was an excellent time for these companies and stocks.    As many tech workers were stocking up their savings, many others were out of work. Restaurants, yoga studios, retail, and real estate were also closing.

Those years and those experiences taught us something meaningful about humanity and resilience; we also discovered that we don’t need to be in the office to be productive.  We don’t need to increase carbon emissions by flying coast to coast every week!    We can accomplish many tasks remotely without negatively impacting the environment or our expense budget.  For millennials and Gen Z who graduated from high school and college online, their video game world became IRL (In Real Life).  For the older generations, it improved the quality of life in some ways and was detrimental in others.  Yet, something was missing; both the cities and the real estate were suffering.  More importantly, although you can collaborate online, there is a need to meet in person (to shake hands, to see the subtle reactions of individuals in a conversation, to bring teams together, and to build camaraderie).  People wanted to see their online pen pals, whom they met via email, video, Slack, Glip, or other platforms that weren’t in person.  Cities began realizing that their storefronts were going empty, and tax revenues were on the decline. We need people to come back to the office – some pieces of our work are missing.   “Let’s start with 3 days’ work from home or with people who live within 30 miles of an office”; because of the lack of planning as to why people should actually plan return to the office, our leaders made blanket requirements and were detached from the context of social collaboration and the purpose of work, which in retrospect resulted in mass departures to companies that were pro-remote work.  People had decided that if that’s the requirement, they would work somewhere else that doesn’t have arbitrary return-to-work requirements that force employees to go into the office, resulting in additional expenses for childcare, pet care, and household maintenance.

There is a better way!!!

The better way considers Environment, Sustainability, Governance. The better approach considers context and the reasons why people need to meet in person.  Do all classes need to be in the classroom, or can they be online? Maybe they are hybrid, flipped, or all the above.  Do people need to come to the office, put their kids and dog in daycare, only to talk to the same colleagues from their office in an online meeting?  It could have reduced greenhouse gases, saved some green in the pocket, and avoided the commute altogether.  Not only that, but we could also consider the costs of HVAC, electricity, and office operations. We could do all this more sustainably now that we aren’t afraid of the Internet and remote work.   We began using Zoom like a verb and a noun; my father could use Zoom. The technology was no longer foreign but part of life, like the TV, which will soon become extinct.  It didn’t matter if it was for work, family, or the Rotary Club.

Consider this

Instead of making arbitrary policies, consider a consolidated integrated solution that accounts for intelligent collaborations, engagements, and meaningful productivity, while accounting for office space, HVAC, and electrical operations.

There are a few companies we work with that can help in this arena based on the specific needs of our clients:

Emissis: Environment Intelligence: This company commits to a financial penalty if it can’t save you money on your chillers, refrigeration, and air-conditioning. Talk about standing by your product!

• An AI-driven HVAC optimization platform that can reduce energy costs by 15-20% at companies with extensive air-conditioning and refrigeration systems.
• Real-time air quality monitoring for employee wellness. So, bring in your employees and give them clean air to breathe- now that’s a novel concept.
• Wait, there is more- You get amazing insights and ESG compliance reports. Use it to answer RFPs, attract employees seeking a healthy work environment, and monitor it because you care.

Zoom Workspace

Wait, what does online meeting software have to do with return to office?

• Zoom is bringing intelligence to booking desks, classrooms, conference rooms, and more.
• Their new AI product features team coordination tools that track communication frequency, habits, and suggest optimal scheduling for in-office work times to ensure real-life interactions. Yes, human to human in person, like the old days, but instead of coming into the office to get on a video call, you might actually be able just to swivel your chair to see the person working next to you! Ahh, the miracles of modern life.
• Plus, nothing is gained without analytics, nothing is managed unless it’s measured, so take out that measuring cup and start building reports or use canned reports that can give you better insights into space utilization, and that will make your CFO happy because they will be paying for space that is needed and used.

RingCentral Rooms- Platform-Agnostic Meetings

You know I worked at RingCentral, and it’s a really great product that excels in engineering. No blog would really be complete without it.  That said, a significant feature that cannot be overlooked is meetings.  Yes, you are coming to the office for in-person meetings, but you will inevitably need to video conference or share screens, etc., while in the office.

• RingCentral Rooms supports Teams, Zoom, WebEx, and Google Meet in any room.
• Turns any space into a collaboration hub.
• Deploys quickly and integrates with Outlook and other calendaring systems.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that an intelligent return to office program accounts for environment, people, and application rationalization.  By implementing products like Emissis, RingCentral, and Zoom, you can achieve significant benefits: reducing your carbon footprint by more than 20%, providing real estate cost savings of over 20%, and increasing employee productivity.

The future of workplace technology isn’t about having the most tools, it’s about having the right tools seamlessly integrated by @Sugar Hill Consulting, LLC (Shameless plug)

#SmartOffice #ESG #WorkplaceTechnology #FutureOfWork #ApplicationRationalization #DigitalTransformation #RingCentral #Zoom