Death of the Office?
The trend may be to knock down office walls, but the office is indeed not dead. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and full of life and energy. There is no doubt that technology is a driving force behind today’s work model. Technology has offered flexibility in when, where and how we work – essentially we’re always connected. The increase of mobile devices paired with computing and file storage in the cloud has removed the physical confinement of the need for assigned traditional work spaces. Since knowledge workers are no longer tied down by cords and a file cabinet, remote working has become a viable and often favorable option for both employee and employer. In fact, 24% of U.S. workers are telecommuting some hours each week, which means less time spent in the traditional office setting.
With telecommuting on the rise, the focus becomes on creating a workplace that is a destination hub to promote brand and people connectivity, and encourage interactions. The landscape of the office environment needs to be dynamic to respond to the needs of the individual users and leverage the technology to drive collaboration. To answer these needs, you may see walls come down in favor of a more open collaborative concept while others go up to create shared use focus rooms. Areas designed to support socialization and wellness bear greater significance. These areas are incorporated into the office scape with the purpose to engage workers in feeling part of a work community since this can be lost the more time spent away from the office. The workplace then becomes an extension of a company culture and the people that feed that culture. So rather than pondering the death of the office due to tech-enabled telecommuter, consider it a rebirth of the office.
Check out this infographic from Intuit and learn how technology is shaping the workplace of the future. What does the future of your workplace look like?
