Remote working – the Cloud and mobile computing made it popular, but this may be changing.
Merissa Mayer may not have initiated the backlash, but she certainly gave the idea of remote working a big kick towards the grass. Ms Mayer is the chief executive of Yahoo, and one of her very earliest acts when she took the reins of the company, was to ban staff from working from home.
She did not so much encourage remote workers back to the office, but inform them that is what they would do if they wanted to remain working for the company.
She had a good reason. In the UK, workplace consultant Peldon Rose’s survey of over 600 office workers, revealed a conclusion that may have dealt a heavy a blow to the idea of remote work.
Its survey revealed that two-thirds of British workers say that they work most productively in the office, whilst just 26 per cent said that they also work more productively at home.
Half of respondents said that remote working can make them feel stressed, while 43 per cent said it makes them feel lonely, and 53 per cent said that working out of the office makes them feel disconnected from colleagues.
Peldon Rose said: “Employers keen to see the productivity and wellbeing benefits of bringing a disparate and disconnected workforce back together should consider some key aspects of what the office of the future will look like.”
It recommends hybrid workspaces – which is another way of saying workspaces with a more modern approach, designed to offer a kind of ‘best of both worlds’ environment, with flexible spaces, collaborative working zones, quiet spaces and more personalised areas to work.
A small majority of workers – 55 per cent – who responded to the survey said that ‘they wished they were more trusted to manage how and when they work.’ Peldon Rose said: “This flexibility should be a critical concern for businesses.”
It suggested that the future office will see more ‘hybrid workspaces’, with moveable furniture, couches and private booths to add variety and individuality to previously featureless open-plan offices.
It said that “These spaces not only serve as an oasis for concentration and quiet work, but as peaceful retreats in the busy, always-on working world – an important safeguard for employees’ mental health and wellbeing.”
Peldon Rose also recommends what it calls the ‘at-home office’, which provides ‘home comforts at work’. It said that this is “vital to boosting productivity and the ideal for the future is that workers will hardly be able to distinguish their office from their home. Fully-fitted kitchens, coffee and juice bars will increasingly be the norm, as will shower rooms, while taking a ‘power nap’ in a sleeping pod or nap room will be part of the new office culture. And if workers still need to relax then rooms decked out like a garden to boost oxygen levels and improve mood will be on hand.”
Or to put it another way, one way to encourage remote workers back to the office, to is to make the office look like home. There is no place like home, ergo: there is no place like the office.
Peldon Rose also talked about “ensuring the future office is completely connected and wired for all devices, equipment, facilities, power, heat and light will be a hygiene factor.” It said that “while technology will keep making us faster and more efficient, the technology of the future will increasingly be about building back communities in the workplace and breaking down the silos that it was partially responsible for building. To build and maintain a dynamic, connected workplace there will be widespread use of personal tele-/video-conferencing on lighter, smarter, faster mobile devices, with apps such as Ovoo.”
Continuing with the theme of using technology to entice remote workers back to the office, Peldon Rose discussed beacon technology. This can be used for sharing information with nearby devices in the workplace. It is expected that this technology will become commonplace.
Peldon Rose said that the “playground office: with workplace friendships, critical for office wellbeing and productivity, will need to provide the time and place to encourage team bonding and ensure there is fun to be had at work. Two-thirds of workers think social events help them to bond with their colleagues and facilities encouraging a bit of down time, such as slides, aquariums, table tennis, games and music rooms will increasingly be seen as the norm rather than the exception.”
Dell
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Tags: Business, Workforce Transformation