A crisis actually is a decision point.
Decades ago, in the world of work, we were dealing with the issue of usefulness: What people need to work. This raised the question of productivity: How people can work better and faster. This raised the question of commitment: Why it is important to keep people happy and engaged. During the pandemic, everything changed. The new issue is flexibility, security, communication, collaboration and creativity from anywhere and the experience of remote work. It is therefore appropriate to understand the future of work so that it serves a higher meaning and purpose.
You have probably already read statements somewhere that office spaces will be completely unnecessary in the future. The opposite is true! Offices will there be with us all the time. Why? The end of offices was predicted much earlier, when the telephone, fax, computer, internet, mobile phone were invented and we could go on… The reason why offices will not disappear is undoubtedly the unique human interactions leading to mutual communication, cooperation and creativity, Jiří Plátek, Workplace Design Specialist, AV MEDIA, opens our interview.
It is true that offices will not look and function the same as they did before the pandemic. What does that mean? Most companies will work in a hybrid model. Some people work in an office and some work from home or anywhere. People mix and mingle in different ways during the work week. None of them will work the same way they used to.
The hybrid working/collaboration model will require a new plan from companies and their leaders. How to properly design digital offices and workspaces. The new premises must respond meaningfully to the needs and wishes of employees not only for 2021, but also for the rest of this decade. Here are the TRENDS that will affect the future of work.
’We live in a time of uncertainty because we do not know what will happen, but we know that the world of work has changed.’
FLEXIBILITY
People want to customize their work preferences in the office space, just like in their modern vehicles, so they could feel flexible. In the past, the desk was considered the dirtiest place in the office because it was used as a personal space. The desks of the future will be much more shared with others.
Imagine that you are holding your mobile phone with an application installed in your hand. The application will allow sharing the floor plan of all office spaces with colour indicators. The application shows you online which desks and spaces are available and clean. You can even book everything using the same application.
Meeting rooms adapt to human needs and work activities thanks to integrated AV technology: e.g. for group collaboration or brainstorming, a projector with a screen is automatically started, for creative work in a team, an interactive display with a digital whiteboard is used, and for hybrid collaboration with remote participants, a video conference is activated; for individual focused work, the right temperature, lighting and acoustics are set up so that we feel comfortable in the space.
