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The Workplace of the Future?
What is the workplace going to be like in 2011 and beyond? The FM industry considers what current trends mean for the way we work in future.
Today’s workplace looks very different from the office of 20 years ago, and is still evolving. Economic conditions, new legislation, technological innovation and changing expectations are all combining to influence location, use of space, furniture, technology and systems of communication.
Some argue there is no longer a demand for a core workplace occupied from nine to five as working routines, increased mobility and developments in telephony, broadband and wi-fi release us from dependence on a single workstation. Add to that the attitudes of the younger generation of workers, combined with the continuing imperative to cut costs, and it is no surprise that managers are looking for creative answers to their workplace dilemmas.
We asked some leading facilities managers, designers and consultants for their views on the shape of the future workspace, and what change will mean for FM as we move into a new decade.
Will we still need offices?
Pernille Stafford, interiors director, Scott Brownrigg
As a new generation enters the workplace a gradual trend to increased nomadic working, supported by our gadget lifestyle and social networking sites, will alter the types of office environment that we see today. This will affect some, but not all, business sectors. Fundamentally people need to gather to exchange and discuss new ideas as the impressionist painters did more than a century ago. So will the workplace change radically? I do not foresee this.
Simon Taylor, head of property, Yell UK
Most organisations will still bring people together to work: it will continue to stimulate the best creative tension or 0simply be the way we get things done. What will change is the variety we bring to our working environment as technology and imaginative design enables people 0to work in many different ways while in the office.
Simon Ball, business development manager, Interserve
media and professional services organisations in particular are expanding the concept of flexible working to encompass not just teleworking, desk sharing and job sharing but the creation of a ‘results oriented’ workplace. These new ways of working are doing away with the traditional workplace concept of core hours, scheduled meetings, and face time in favour of a working culture that allows people to take more control over their working lives.
Peter Eglinton, senior vice president, Iron Mountain
The growth and changing nature of information will play a key part in shaping the workplace of the future. Information is literally created everywhere at every moment 0in the working day. You can wake up and check your phone for emails; you can drive to the office and take calls on your hands free; you can fire up your laptop on the train – and that’s all before you get to the office where physical and digital information diverges. With more people creating work related information ‘on the go’, it creates a blurred home/office divide.
Phil Ratcliffe, managing director, Procore
Work may carry on down the knowledge path, with people working across locations, time zones in a virtual world. It may regress, pulling people back into centralised hubs (some of the financial companies have for years called their back of house divisions ‘manufacturing’), with companies more focused on carbon than pounds, dollars and euros.
Managing people
Jonathan King, chief executive officer, Swiss Post Solutions
While a mobile workforce makes organisations more nimble and responsive to their clients, HR faces the challenge of ensuring those workers still feel connected to their organisation. With increased remote working workers can feel isolated and suffer from demotivation. Performance can slip, so HR has to use all the communication tools at its disposal – videoconferencing, face-to-face appraisals, one-to-one briefings, team initiatives – to ensure there is constant engagement with its workers.
Phil Ratcliffe, managing director, Procore
To allow people the flexibility they may desire or that legislation dictates often means a change in management style, moving from the ‘line of sight’ to the ‘virtual’, and therefore more trusting, HR model. This has significant benefits if the HR professionals see how they can play a part in implementation and change – but unfortunately, often they don’t.
Simon Taylor, head of property, Yell UK
What I hope is that we can break the traditional view of people management in many industries: that we manage by presence, not by results. Truly flexible, varied use of space and technology only works if managers accept that what matters is what is achieved and not how or where. For as long as there’s a continuing view that people need to be seen for it to be evident that they’re working hard, then we won’t move forward.
Configuring the workspace
Pernille Stafford, interiors director, Scott Brownrigg
Pressures in the current financial climate will be reflected in the workplace through a variety of complex strands, including dual use of space.
For example, cafeteria spaces will also act as the ‘town hall’ environment for staff consultations or gatherings, as well as providing collaborative meeting environments to reduce cellularisation, thereby reducing energy consumption.
Traditional workstations will have a place in certain organisations for many years to come due to the tasks required. However, these will be supplemented by other types of settings such as inflatable pods where people have access to quiet zones for contemplative work. Team and project zones will be formulated and disbanded; mobile workers will be adept at plug and play in a variety of settings, from the car on the BlackBerry to the office break-out zone.
Simon Taylor, head of property, Yell UK
The workspace will continue to lose fixed desks, with a preference for soft seating and informal meeting rooms. Yell already has what we call scrum rooms: space to bring people from different teams together to brainstorm a new idea for a short time, then move on to the next idea. That space can have everything from interactive whiteboards and full wi-fi connectivity to flipcharts and post-its, whatever it takes to get the ideas flowing.
Technology and innovation
Mark Purnell, managing director, complyNC
Technology is an overwhelming and incredibly exciting feature of contemporary living in all its various forms and is an enabler for revolutionary workplace arrangements, environments and practices. FM professionals and practitioners should be seizing the massive opportunities presented and be driving forward a host of technologically enabled workplace initiatives and advances.
For example, technology can improve operational FM performance. Uncomplicated, intuitive and relevant web-based systems can set out and measure simple user processes and pathways in real time which assist FM service providers and staff to deliver to optimum effect. They can also provide managers and administrators with assurance that what is required to be done is actually being done in compliance with all the various professional, contractual and statutory governances.
Andrew Mawson, Advanced Workplace Associates
Traditionally we’ve been challenged in introducing mobility in the office because the IT and telephony 00systems would not allow mobility. People had to go to their very own desk to use their own PC to get their applications and files. Enter virtualisation of the desktop and IP telephony – the game changers.
Virtualisation means that you can go to any PC that is connected to the internet and access your files, applications and desktop settings just as if you were going to work at your very own ‘personal’ computer. In the telephone world, IP telephony lets you log into the phone on your desk and access all your calls and voicemail and phone settings – a sort of virtualised telephone. What this means is that people can sit anywhere, as long as they are located in proximity to the things they need to work – such as colleagues, information and facilities.
Julie Kortens, head of facilities management, Channel Four Television
One clear illustration of how technology is affecting business strategy is the number of organisations that have begun to change their focus when formulating business continuity plans. Where traditionally a business has prioritised finding suitable accommodation for staff, many are now moving to a situation where the single biggest priority is to ensure that staff can communicate with each other, with the business itself and have ready access to critical systems from remote locations, with less of a need for a physical central hub.
Simon Ball, business development manager, Interserve
There has been a strong push to reduce the amount of business travel for both financial and environmental reasons. We have seen a large increase in the number of videoconferencing units or telepresence suites which utilise highdefinition screens and high-speed internet access. There are several implications for the management of the workplace, including rolling out improved room booking systems and providing first fix audiovisual training to employees such as receptionists and concierge staff.
Impact of Gen Y
Julie Kortens, head of facilities management, Channel Four Television
There is an increasing need to join the dots with our HR colleagues to ensure that we keep up with the younger generation (Y), what they take for granted in their daily lives and what they consequently expect from the workplace. They search for jobs online, apply online and invariably have the latest technology at home – they are agile in their communication. Online and mobile communication is an integral part of their lives and if we want to attract future talent we need to follow suit and ensure we satisfy their thirst by providing appropriate systems going forward.
Simon Taylor, head of property, Yell UK
One big benefit of Gen Y is the flexible use they make of space and the reluctance to ‘own’ individual desks. It will be a challenge to older colleagues as Gen Y moves increasingly into management to adapt to their view of the working world.
Phil Ratcliffe, managing director, Procore
If ever there has been a bandwagon then this has to be one of them. Design the workplace for the next generation? Supposedly these technologyenabled virtual socialites and martini workers are the group that every good corporate should be attracting. That is, until the recession. All of a sudden, attracting talent isn’t so important as no one is leaving, and hey, if they don’t like the current workplace there’s a huge list of people who will.
What is just as dangerous about focusing solely on this new generation is the possible exclusion of existing workers, of which there are many. The government is also intervening, increasing retirement ages and taking us towards an ageing workforce. The next generation of workers may not be the get it now, had it, bin it, get the latest model lot, but the been there, seen it, done it, got the T-shirt brigade.
Source: www.fmxmagazine.co.uk
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