The BDO Workplace of the here and now

The BDO Workplace of the here and now

Lasting effects from the pandemic on BDO workplace culture

In autumn 2021, BDO’s global Real Estate & Construction group gathered responses from BDO firms worldwide on initiatives and strategies connected with the return to the office, producing an external report ‘The Post-COVID Changes to BDO Office Life’. The focus was on current and near-future initiatives with the aim to gather insight and inspiration for all our firms and for our large real estate & construction client base. Managing Partners shared valuable insights, lessons learned, and effective strategies deployed to navigate the changing world of work.

Keep evolving
2½ years have passed since the initial survey - the pandemic is history - but the changes in how we work have lasting impact. In spring 2024, BDO’s global Real Estate & Construction Industry group conducted a follow-up survey among BDO firms. The range of responses covering both geographies and size of firm give a fair, balanced view of the new way of working across our global network. While this survey data represents a snapshot in time, the responses and the initiatives that have been launched across our global organisation illustrate how BDO firms have navigated from this generational event into a new working culture, thanks to great efforts and innovations. The lessons of the last couple of years demonstrate that leaders and their teams must keep developing adaptable work strategies and initiatives.

 

Office building and organisational culture
It is clear is that, while the purpose of an office has changed post-pandemic, the bricks and mortar of our businesses still play a critical role in contributing to the culture of our organisations. While the office is now one of many places where work happens, it still serves a vital role as a place to build company culture and connections, collaborate, and innovate. To optimise the positive outcomes, it must be an environment that people want to come to. 

Some key findings in our recent survey:

  • The flexible and remote work debate is not over yet and will continue to reflect the wishes of new generations in the workplace.
  • The younger generations seek flexibility, not only in where they work, but also in how and when they work.
  • The assumptions earlier made about ‘what happens where’ prove incorrect. People do not just do their concentration jobs at the home office and come to the workplace for social contact.  There is no such clear distinction. A mix of all tasks are carried out at every work location. The office is just one of many places where work happens.
  • Open spaces on our work floors are now sometimes seen to cause too much noise and distraction so that people move to the few personal workspaces left and occupy small meeting rooms. This ‘separation’ does not support the critical workplace elements of collaboration and on the job training. This has resulted in some recently installed open space being reconverted to smaller meeting / working rooms.
  • Our staff set high expectations and demands for working facilities in a ‘hip and happening’, up-to-date, sustainable environment. These criteria move high up the agenda for the employer of choice.
  • Leaders should continue to review how their organisation effectively and empathetically leverages technology to enable their people to work faster, better and smarter. Seeking continual employee feedback will contribute to achieving optimal results.
  • More data is needed with respect to how and when we use office space so that we can steer behaviour and thus energy consumption.


The next wave of new ways of working
New challenges may already loom on the horizon: seconding work to other countries, the shift to AI and accelerated digitisation of many present manual work processes.  Are they the forerunners of another wave of ways of new working? 

Read the full report to navigate through interesting findings, such as the misalignments between expectations then (post-covid) and the actual situation, the shifts in attention and in ranking when prioritising issues related to the office.

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Arjan Endhoven

Arjan Endhoven

Head of Global Real Estate & Construction;
Partner, BDO Netherlands
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Ayman Chalak

Ayman Chalak

Senior Manager, Global Business Development, BDO Global
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