There has been endless talk about the new normal since Covid-19 arrived. From the changing nature of the workplace to the great resignation. From the shifted demands of workspaces to the very concrete nature of work itself. The variables present lead us to focus on the future of work.
Leaders across the globe are pushing their limits to discover creative opportunities that improve the nature of work and the spaces to work.
Though, this new year is more about redefining the guidelines of the workforce; to identify the sense of survival and employee needs.
In the period of The Anywhere Office, organizations need to divert their attention to nothing but the approach. Although the approach taken by each organization will differ, the silver lining is effort and result.
The three stages that will lead us to the silver lining can be remembered as the three Fs, and are as follows:
Flexibility
We live in the age of technology, whereby convenience takes precedence, and simple actions catapult us to the best, most effective outcomes. Through interactive, collaborative, and engaging formats that influence how we communicate, learn, and think. It is this flexibility that should reach every workplace as well.
The success of an organization begins at the very office space its employees utilize. Here, not only can you build a concrete culture out of flexible technology, but you can also initiate the first step to innate success.
A hybrid working model provides the answer to workplace flexibility. For employees, achieving the best outcome for the task at hand becomes simple. While trusted sensor technology makes space flexibility easy to provide, manage and enhance at scale for the organization.
Functionality
The functionality of technology should provide ease and comfort to employees. Especially during this return to office phase.
The ideal would be to invest enough into technology that develops a sense of unity and trust between employees and the workplace. For example, integrating The SPOT Platform, Cleanreader, and Employee App to enable tracking of cleaning activity and automation of desk booking, in keeping with requirements or guidelines.
Fulfilment
Fulfilment is a principle attribute your employees should seek from your organization. This is the last F that cherishes the value of each stage in redefining the future of work. Reaching this stage makes it evident that your employees connect work to a sense of purpose. This is where the blurred lines of work-life balance seek a settlement. Our role here, as technologists, as thought-leaders, as designers of the future workplaces, is to do one thing only:
Start a virtuous cycle by enabling “The Workplace of One”.
And then, respectively trust and empower our employees to carry it on and contribute to the carbon economy, from energy usage to global impact.
Understanding the demand of employees
Technology must be ubiquitous yet friction-free and as good as, if not better than, our experiences in other fields. A good one to emulate is our food and hospitality industry. Whether a local pizza store or a fine-dining restaurant, a motel, or a mansion, our employees are looking for similar form and function at the workplace.
Employees would like the ability to reserve a space, but not necessarily an exact table or room. They would like us to remember their preferences. Have the environment wait on, and be responsive to their needs, anticipative even.
They want to feel special yet not be intruded on. They are open to trying new things, but they also want the essentials and must-haves. Technology must solve that problem, make it effortless, invisible even.
Understanding and providing for the demands of employees creates a flexible, comfortable environment that not only meets their needs but unwinds several opportunities to improve productivity and revenue in return.
Practical approach to employee demands
In our new hybrid world, an employee should only have to decide where they need to be in order to be most productive. For instance:
“I will be in the office twice this week, on Tuesday and Thursday. On Thursday, I need a quiet corner, as I will be printing out some content.”
Meeting this demand and fulfilling the need can be broken down into stages. Starting with the obvious factors that technology must solve automatic check-in, automatic desk-booking, scheduling, and calendar integration.
Then, focus on whether their seating arrangement is next to colleagues or project mates. Beyond that, concierge-like services. Booking rides to and from the workplace, booking a parking spot, an employee locker, notifying facilities, catering, floor admins. Even administering this as part of a ROTA, like an attentive yet invisible service.
The follow-on stages go beyond this; for instance, person A picks up a desk phone, and a visible sign lights up to indicate Do-Not-Disturb. If person B plugs into a desk screen, it automatically checks the person into the space. If person C does a screen share, the conference room shades go into cloak mode. The limit is just our imagination. All of these are real examples of the ways our customers are using Freespace workplace technology right now.
Of all the factors to consider, while initiating technology at workplaces, you must do all of this without compromising information security, privacy, client confidentiality, workplace regulations, and a consistent experience for all work locations.
What are the next steps?
Once you have worked out the experience factor, you begin the feedback loop. You point out, anonymously, how much energy savings, what occupancy analytics are, which spaces are highly preferred. And you provide that feedback live, real-time.
That is where the magic will happen.
Studies have shown that simple feedback and simple messaging have resulted in significant shifts in consumer behavior. For example, towel usage in hotels, food wastage in restaurants, or healthy choices on menus.
Imagine the exact thing, only more dynamically, more data-driven, more instantaneously.
The future of work is technology lead – with usages we unimagined yet to be revealed. For the great revival, post the great resignation! Contact our team of experts to discuss your workplace technology solution.
