Blogs

For the last 1.5 years, those of us used to working in office spaces have been participating in a global experiment of remote working. What we managed to see is that a lot of the work previously classed as ‘impossible to do remotely’ is actually doable! A lot of companies and employees noticed that one can do their own job - or majority of it from home or restrictions-permitting anywhere else.

Work is crap, right?

For many people, this is an uncontentious statement. According to Gallup, hardly anyone is fully engaged in their work whilst half of employees would change their job tomorrow, and a sizeable number would even take a pay cut to escape their boss. Toxic workplaces and terrible bosses are the norm rather than the exception.

We need to do something, and urgently. We need to decrapify work. But what would a decrapified workplace look like?

Over a year into the pandemic, some voices are still calling for "getting back to work" - as if their staff has been doing something other than work, in the past year. Presenteeism and outdated controlling attitudes, that before have driven people daily into the office under the watchful eyes of managers, are now being challenged by new "hybrid working" models, "work-from-anywhere" policies and "activity-based office" designs. In his blog, Michal Matlon talks about the importance of a culture of trust; and how privacy, distraction-free spaces and different mindscapes can bring out the best out of an organization that does brainwork. It's all about autonomy, flexibility, choice and psychological safe zones.

We are now over a year into a pandemic-induced workplace (r)evolution. To no one’s surprise, views on the role of the office are still polarized. Within commercial real estate, many corporate leaders are hoping for a return to old ways of working. However, inflection points are simply part of life. Covid-19 is a huge inflection point for the office world. Now it’s the customer, both tenant companies and end-users who are in the spotlight, who will have their turn to write the next chapter of what it means to “go” to work. For those whose income and business model is tied to supplying or servicing the world of offices, a beginner’s mindset has become necessary, to survive.

According to a study by the World Economic Forum, the number of emerging jobs will increase from 16% to 27% between 2018 and 2022. At the same time, one tenth of the existing job descriptions will vanish. It has been forecast that more than 65% of the children starting school today will come to work in jobs that do not yet exist at the time when they start school. Work is falling apart at an accelerated pace.

Do you find it difficult to focus on your work when a colleague nearby is on the phone or having an impromptu brainstorming session with another colleague? Many employers are looking for easy and flexible ways to reduce noise and disruptions in their offices and to increase their staff’s happiness. In this blog, Sales Director Finland Tapani Laitila from Framery Acoustics explores possible solutions and up-and-coming trends in workspace design.