Pandemic, home office, remote work – what happens next? The members of the GWA Forum Healthcare Communication are reflecting about the future of agile co-working within agencies.

​

Late-night team sessions, busy meetings to get the client presentation done, pizza for everyone - many still have this cliché of agency life in their heads. But the Covid 19 pandemic has changed collaboration dramatically, and agile remote working has taken hold overnight. Now the teams are about to return to the office – and wondering, how the re-start will affect their balance between remote and on-site work. We wanted to gather deeper insight about our future work: The leadership group of GWA Health agencies have launched a survey to learn more about sustainable job models and asked decision makers from nineteen networks and owner-managed healthcare agencies to join in.

​

​

​

​

​

​

Planning the re-opening

​

Does agency teamwork always require on-site collaboration? The last few months have impressively shown that collaboration also works virtually, in the best possible way. Nevertheless, many marketeers miss the "live" experience: that face-to-face co-working, where people meet their minds and needs. We were curious to see how agencies approach the return to the office. The results of the survey: Only two of the agency bosses surveyed are planning a complete reopening on a specific date for the entire team. Some respondents said they were planning a gradual reopening. Another quarter are pursuing a different concept. The lively discussion revealed that the agency bosses' main concern is that the workflow continues to function smoothly within the framework of the requirements.

​

​

​

​

 

 

No remote work without the right equipment

​

Mark Zuckerberg has set a good example: Facebook employees will be able to work remotely from another location for a full 20 working days by the end of 2021 if they wish - and by arrangement. We wanted to know whether agencies will also be offering "travel days" in the future, or whether they will be aiming for location-independent working in a different way. This work-model requires appropriate equipment to allow maximum flexibility. Our survey shed light on how decision-makers are equipping their teams for more agility.

​

​

 

Conclusion

​

We had sparked the discussion out of curiosity. And we were quite surprised about the survey results, as they show how fundamentally working at the agency has changed. Which, in our opinion, is absolutely for the best. Our learnings: With the right dose of trust, transparency and quality time, new work models can emerge that have the potential to attract talents, even the young ones. A given fact, clients, projects and agencies will surely benefit from in the future.