You might not be aware of it, but offices spaces are changing in more creative and interesting ways you could have imagined. No longer will employees be trapped in a one-cell cubicle with only a murmur of office voices. Employees are now encouraged to work in teams and make their ideas heard. Let us take a look at 5 ways in which offices are evolving.
Desk Space
The work that we need to do is no longer restricted to a small cubicle and beige walls. The coffee shop around the corner, or even your spot on the bus can now be seen as a desk space. Since we are able to travel with our laptops, smartphones and tablets any surface with Wifi access can be seen as a desk space. There is also a trend called hot desking being practiced around serviced offices in London. You can hire a desk equipped with everything that you might need for a certain amount of time.
Technology
Employees and business owners no longer have to run around or sit and traffic to meet with prospective clients. Technology enables us to communicate with anyone anywhere. No need to fly to a different city to have a meeting with your boss, just instigate a conference call with live video chat. Google + even enables you to have group chats for free.
Technology is by far the most influential aspect of the ways in which the offices is evolving. There are even certain applications enable you to have access to the same page or document online, combined with a video chat. This way you can work on a project together with someone sitting on the other side of the world.
Most companies are making big technological adjustment to the structure and supplies of their offices. In this day and age it is important to stay ahead and have the right tools to enter the future.
Team oriented
Offices are getting a lot more team orientated. To encourage employees to succeed and work harder, teams are then given challenges for which they will be rewarded if they succeed. Outsourcing is a big part of business, and people are specialist in certain fields of the business. Combining these people in a team enables them to work together and achieve more than they would have by themselves. To encourage this teamwork the space in itself also changed. People are now grouped together in open space offices to implement these team based structures.
You will also find that some business and offices spaces have certain allocated rooms for team building and brainstorming. Employees will no have either no personal space, or an office area with glass partitions and natural lighting. According to studies the breakdown of these physical and virtual walls will lead to better employee collaboration.
Feel at home
These days we are able to do almost any work, apart from hard labor, at home. So it is only natural that business owners would want the workstations and workplace to be as comfortable and convenient as your own home. Now that office spaces per person are decreasing, office design their space with a relaxation station or recreational centre in mind.
You will find this tendency is leading offices all over America. Google even has its own gym and food shops as a part of their office space. Employees are encouraged to socialize within the office community. Another initiative being used is the creating of certain interest groups within the company. These employees now become your friends and people that you spend time with after hours in the form of book clubs, table tennis teams, wine tasting groups etc.
We’re all equal
Top down management is taking a back seat in the office environment. Business owners or bosses no longer want to feel excluded from his team. Even though it is important that employees have respect for their leader, management is taking place in a much more casual manner. All across the country you will find open offices spaces, where the boss is situated close to his employees. This might put the workers under pressure, but it also enable them to get to know another side of their boss.
If you are making adjustments to your office space or thinking about creating a space for your new start up company you should consider all these changing aspects. The office space is evolving and changing to adapt to the ever-changing business environment.
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By author John Badger, a guestwriter writing on behalf of Dryland. Amongst other relating services, Dryland specializes in premium serviced offices in London.