Is space a medium for communicating?

It's been 2 years since I joined the company, and I've only been at work for 52 days. It's been a year since I was assigned to the NOMLAB team, and I've been working from home for more than half of that time. It is truly an unprecedented work environment for everyone, and various opinions and considerations have been disseminated, but it was also an opportunity for me to think about space again and have a good environment to think about real space as a planner. I would like to take a quick look back.

Joined NOMURA Co., Ltd. in 2019. Did you spend your second year as you envisioned?

Before the spread of the new coronavirus infection, I was doing construction management training at the interior construction site. Since I had to travel long distances and work night shifts, and I was often on site with the same members, it was relatively difficult to form an in-house community that transcended departmental boundaries.

​I was vaguely excited, thinking, ``If I become a planner in the planning department, I will have more time to deepen my knowledge of spaces by interacting with various people, and have more time to discuss various topics.'' Suddenly, I started working from home. I think everyone was confused by the changes in the environment, but especially for new employees, there were many things I wanted to learn, such as new words, work details, work-related members and cooperating companies. Before COVID-19, it was commonplace. Of course, it is not possible to turn your face next to you and see a senior colleague who is close to your age and ask you something you want to know.

It's such a telecommuting, but in my impressions when I started, there were some good things. I was able to make more effective use of the time I used to spend on commuting, and have more time to talk with my family. By the way, I used this newly born free time to exercise and eat properly in the morning commute (which was supposed to be).

On the other hand, in terms of work, as mentioned above, once you are assigned to a new environment, you will be able to get used to the environment and learn the work. I was particularly looking forward to However, due to working from home, I was able to work almost alone during the day and use the appropriate tools to ask necessary questions. became.

``There are new employees'' in the corona era of people who leave the office and work from home

A quick search on the Internet reveals a number of considerations regarding telecommuting, but the content that always comes up is "challenges related to communication." Specifically, as shown below, this is probably due to this year's "some new employees", where face-to-face work has decreased and online work and communication has become the main focus. There are many parts that I agree with.

<What new employees mainly worry about communication>

- Poor synchronization and communication
・Do not close the distance with your superiors and seniors
・It is difficult to ask questions or consult with your boss

This kind of situation is a problem that was born because it is online where you can't see your face. In Japanese, communication means "transmission of perception, emotion, and thought" (from Kojien). If you have come to feel this kind of problem due to the disappearance of space, you will recognize again that space was, after all, a "media" to convey your intentions. As the word "reading the atmosphere" suggests, space is a medium that conveys atmospheres and emotions that can only be understood in a real place, and at this stage there is no way to convey this when working from home. For example, when there is something you don't understand about something and you want to ask someone about it, no matter how "contactable" the senior's online conference system status is, you can't contact them repeatedly because you don't know what to do. think. After all, the hurdles for asking questions are lower if you feel the atmosphere of the senior sitting next to you at the company and ask, "I'm sorry."

I was also curious about the state of the company, so I asked my co-worker.

(At the time of the interview, a state of emergency had been declared, so basically I was working from home instead of going to the office.)

It seems that they were basically working from home, even if they came to the office according to the work that they frequently went to the site. Also, for new employees who have just been assigned, there are many cases where they feel sorry for sending chats to their seniors many times because they want to hear a lot of things that they want to ask about online work. Again, just like the above, communication is an issue. Here is an impressive initiative that I felt was effective in resolving these issues while conducting interviews.

<Efforts to improve communication>

Invite internal and external guests to join your online room drinking party

In one department, we invited guests from outside the team to the team's drinking party to communicate with each other. Being able to communicate with people you don't usually interact with at work in a relaxing scene like a drinking party may be easier to build relationships inside and outside the company, just like in real life. Here, the secretary changes every time, so it might be more fun if you can invite a wide variety of guests.