By Yorkshire Housing and Jenny Hill, Ingo Interiors
As we enter into the post-pandemic world, the way we work has rapidly evolved. And it’s not the first time we’ve seen a major shift that has fundamentally changed the UK’s working society.
At the start of the seventeenth century, the industrial revolution was well under way. This was an all-mighty transformation that saw the development of new machinery to support assembly lines in factories up and down the country.
The revolution served to bind workforces to specific locations with rigid working hours, triggering a societal shift as people moved from rural areas to the now-bustling cities. Post-revolution life would never be the same again.
Fast forward a few hundred years and we are seeing another massive shift in how and where people work take a hold of the country. So, what’s changed?
Well, for a start technology now allows us to connect with colleagues from anywhere, but perhaps the biggest change comes as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic which forced many of us to work from home for long periods of time.
These changes have left business leaders scratching their heads, forcing them to choose between mandating a return to the office and embracing a truly flexible working model.
Sounds daunting, right?
One month on from opening their new hub, Yorkshire Housing sat down with Jenny Hill, founder of award-winning Ingo Interiors, to discuss why it’s time to redefine and reimagine the office while creating workspaces that are fit for the future.
Jenny Hill of Ingo Interiors
Jenny has been surrounded by creatives from a young age. Her father was a well-respected art teacher who used to teach art and design to pupils who were missing school or had been excluded. It was his love and passion for art that inspired Jenny to pursue a career in interior design.
Jenny's creative career began with work experience at a local puppet maker, at one point given the job of painting the spots on Mr Blobby. For many, that would have been the point in which they put down their paintbrushes and pencils and retired, but Jenny made her way into television production design, working on shows such as Brookside and Hollyoaks.
She then joined the esteemed Fairhursts Design Group, followed by the global firm Savills in Manchester as an interior designer, before setting up Ingo Interiors ten years ago.
When faced with designing Yorkshire Housing’s new hub, in the climate and innovation district of Leeds, Jenny wanted to create a new concept for colleagues, using knowledge and experience in her specialist field of changing the traditional 'offices' into flexible HUB spaces.
But additionally Jenny and YH CEO, Nick Atkin wanted to take it further than ever before, making a space that could meet the different requirements that have been brought about in the past three years and be an embodiment of what the future of workspaces could be.
An interior designer’s perception on the ‘new’ office
In reality, offices haven’t changed much since the 1700s.
There’s something somewhat hierarchical about offices of the past, says Jenny: “Desks set out in rows in front of a ‘boss’ is still something that we see today"
“I put this down to a lack of trust and a need for control, but can also be a reaction to communication issues brought about by poor IT solutions.
“Technology that allows agile working has not been kept up to date in some businesses and that was made truly evident during the pandemic. ”
So, as working from home has become the norm across many industries, will this leave a lasting change?
Long before the pandemic, Yorkshire Housing were planning a change to work life that would give colleagues the freedom to choose when and where they work. The pandemic has shown us that this is what people want. A recent survey showed that more than three-quarters (78%) of those who worked from home during the pandemic said that being able to work from home gave them an improved work life balance. Yorkshire Housing have already embraced flexible working, but shouldn’t this be the aim everywhere?
We spend the first eleven years of our life sitting at desks facing the teacher. We then pack our bags and head off to university to do the same. We then graduate into the workspace as fully fledged adults - only to discover we’re being watched, monitored, and measured just like we were at school.
Why?
Jenny suggests many bosses rebel against a shift to an agile working approach, perhaps afraid of letting go of the reins, losing power or assuming there would be a reduction in productivity.
At Yorkshire Housing, people are treated like adults - work anyplace, anytime. It’s a mantra that CEO Nick Atkin swears by.
There is a link between work life and customer offer. A business that embraces flexibility, colleague wellbeing and its environment will inherently deliver better services to its customers.
Creating the hub with Yorkshire Housing
When people think of futuristic workplaces, many think of Google.
The tech giant is often seen as the ‘golden child’ when it comes to funky and modern office design.
But the Google office has also become the byword for gimmick. Slides, swings, dodge cars…
Working carefully with Yorkshire Housing to create a hub perfectly designed for our team, Jenny says the focus has been on ‘enhancement with a purpose.’
“Every feature of Yorkshire Housing’s new space is designed with a purpose and to fit the made different roles and tasks within the company perfectly. A place where they feel inspired, that is welcoming, that can be utilised as a way of life, not just work and fits the modern version of today’s workspace; giving colleagues the choice of where they work from.
“Not everyone has a perfect home or ideal space to work from and modern life does not seem to still work in set hours devoted to work or personal life anymore.
“With that in mind, does the '9-5 at a desk, in an office' model work anymore?"
“To support a better health and wellbeing approach to staff, businesses should look at what space they offer their colleagues and when it is available. This should be the focus of future 'office' design - not how many desks can be shoehorned into a box, with cheap blue carpet, primary coloured task chairs and standardised furniture & fittings.
“Lighting, acoustics, furniture, colours, physical accessibility for all, neurodiverse and neurotypical design integrity, not forgetting the creation of a general atmosphere of a space. These are all elements that add to the attractiveness of a workspace and contribute to greater wellbeing and reduced stress.
“This has been a key focus at Yorkshire Housing and aspects like these have been carefully woven into the fabric of The Place,” says interior designer Jenny.
How Yorkshire Housing is adjusting to flexible working
Following the pandemic, the spotlight has been well and truly focused on colleague wellbeing - as it should have been a long time ago.
Yorkshire Housing’s new hub, The Place, has been designed from the ground up with health and wellbeing in mind.
Jenny Hill describes The Place as being an inclusive work space: “Workplaces of today must be inclusive. We need to move away from token gestures and create spaces that are accessible to everyone, this is a passion that Yorkshire Housing and Ingo Interiors share.
“The office as we once knew it has changed almost entirely. We’ve re-imagined the office space to become a welcoming environment that is comfortable and inspiring.”
While we’re unsure where the future of the office and working arrangements holds, it’s clear that employers need to embrace flexible working arrangements beyond home working.
This gives the opportunity and choice to all, letting the employee have more choice over their work life.