How Anomaly Is Developing Its Physical Spaces and Encouraging Flexibility

Early in the Covid-19 lockdowns, questions of returning to the office typically revolved around proposed dates and mask protocols. But as the pandemic continued into its second year, it has become a highly complex—and potentially volatile—topic at companies around the world. For many organizations, it’s no longer about a return to normalcy; it’s about defining a new normal and finding the sometimes elusive balance between productivity and your team’s emotional well-being. That’s why Adweek is launching a regular interview series called Open Plan. In each Q&A, we’ll ask company leaders how they’ve changed the way they think about offices, remote working and the many transitions ahead. ADWEEK: How has the pandemic changed how you view workplaces? KARINA WILSHER: Anomaly, as a business, is built to constantly evolve. So when the pandemic hit we were, thankfully, better placed than many to navigate the disruption. Obviously, we weren’t immune to the pressures everyone experienced, but many of the fundamentals of Anomaly served us well—we already had an established, fluid talent model and deep collaboration is hardwired into how we work across our seven offices. We’ve built a modern, globally connected model, so have always challenged legacy assumptions, such as what constitutes ‘an office’, and we have zero time for traditional fiefdoms dictated by hard lines of geography. We now have endless unexpected-yet-welcome learnings that will further accelerate the way we work to ensure both our clients and our talent succeed in this new world. How have you changed the office environment since the pandemic started? In many ways, the traditional concept of an office was really just a lazy evolution of the factory and we’ve always looked to do better than that! We understand the power of our physical spaces—whether that’s building a dedicated learning and development space in each of our offices; a research facility that doubles up as a ‘must-visit coffee bar' in Shanghai; or simply having the biggest bar and event space in Soho, New York in our office. We know how important our spaces are to our culture and clients. We have zero time for traditional fiefdoms dictated by hard lines of geographyKarina Wilsher, global chief executive and partner at Anomaly Now, as we adopt an even more flexible approach to our working week, we’re designing an approach that will maximize high-performance, both in and out of the physical office. Our spaces will remain a critical ‘center of gravity' for diverse teams to come together and collaborate on interesting client questions and embrace new ideas. But they’ll be even more intentionally designed around three modes of work: We have collaboration spaces for whiteboarding, creative sprints, team reviews, client presentations and agency meetings, which are better in person. We have concentration spaces that are library-like and music-free for individual work, quiet focus and thinking. We learned that not everyone wants to do this kind of work remotely as it really depends on an individual’s setup at home, kids, etc. … And we also have consultation spaces with optimized tech for one-on-ones or status meetings where doing it as a call or VC doesn't make it any less effective. Are these temporary or permanent changes? We want to take full advantage of all the new learnings we have to create the very best context for doing great work together. We’re embracing it all—assuming that things will continue to change—and we’re excited to continue to learn and experiment. How Agencies Are Shifting Their Return to Office Policies Amid the Delta Variant We’re fortunate to partner with many tech clients—such as Google, YouTube and Facebook—and are seeing the beginning of more radical changes over the years as the possibilities of VR and AR become more applicable to the workplace. We've been playing a lot and there’s tremendous potential over the next few years. How has it changed your view on working hours and what will you do to implement that? Like many of us, I’ve personally seen benefits and challenges to both work and life. So I’m not surprised that many of our people are seeking to achieve ‘the best of both worlds’. After so much time working from home, many have craved the chance to come together in our spaces for teamwork, talent development and all-important agency culture. And many are also keen to enjoy the flexibility to continue to work from home part of the week. At Anomaly, working hours are not about presenteeism. We’re trialing a hybrid model that strives to deliver ‘the best of both worlds,’ with a working week that’s intentionally designed around different modes of work. Do you believe in flexible working and if so, how do you define it? Absolutely. We’re a values-based company so have always prioritized unique and flexible ways of working to suit exceptional talent. Not just full-time or part-time, but we’ve looked to be very flexible in where and how people work as teams and individuals, we’ve had job fairs, job shares, term-time working and structured time off, etc. We’re now even more sure of investing in a progressive talent model to give us access to diverse, entrepreneurial thinkers, unrestrained by traditional working patterns or contracts. As we look to double down on the unique skills that make Anomaly an ‘anomaly,’—such as innovation, digital transformation and product development—it’s not just about new skills in the building, but also committing to an even more flexible and distributed model outside of the building too. We’re also providing even greater flexibility with the introduction of two ‘work from anywhere’ weeks per year for everyone who wants to adopt fully remote work. We want to give people more opportunity to temporarily work near family or friends or simply be inspired by locations beyond the cities they normally live in. What has been the biggest challenge about remote working? Missing the crew! There’s a real sense of belonging and friendship at Anomaly and that was sorely missed in the isolation of quarantine. As a business, we’re enjoying an incredible amount of growth and momentum, but it’s been hard to have so many new people join us without ever meeting their teams or clients in-person. We’re now even more sure of investing in a progressive talent model to give us access to diverse, entrepreneurial thinkers, unrestrained by traditional working patterns or contracts I also found the less tangible things the most challenging—reading a room and knowing how people are feeling immediately, the incredible value of in-person mentorship and simply having a laugh or giving someone a ‘pat on the back’, literally! What benefits has the agency experienced from remote working? In the past 18 months, we successfully launched new products, new campaigns, won new business and continued to expand our offering globally. Against the odds, some of our offices had their best year ever. I think this is all down to the trust we have in our people and each other. As we worked remotely, we looked to cultivate an environment of high performance with high empathy. Whether you’re a 25-year-old in a small apartment in NY, or a parent having to homeschool, it’s been bloody hard, but our people really came together with incredible support and compassion for one and other. What have you missed most, if anything, about working from the office? Figuring stuff out around a whiteboard with a team of whip-smart Anomalies. If you could change one thing only about how the industry works, whether about the office, working patterns or anything—what would it be and why? People pretending they have all the answers. Within this topic, the industry can be guilty of claiming to have the ‘new normal’ all figured out, and people declare with absolute certainty that the future of work is or isn’t hybrid, or the office is dead or it’s alive and kicking! How do you plan to do this? Post-pandemic, we’re striving to ‘bounce forward’ versus sleepwalk back into old ways of working. And I’m just trying to remain open to all of the knock-on effects such a disruption might have had on our industry. I’m constantly assessing how our business model, our approach to talent and the definition of our work might need to shift in response. No one has the answers, of course. But the good news is, we can’t fail. We’ll just learn more. We Should 'Respect Each Other's Time' Serviceplan Russia Chief Advises