How technology is transforming the workplace

Smartphones Ultra-fast internet

Flexible working Social Media

Wearables

Collaboration toolsMobility

Non-Policy Holidays

Technologies and trends like these are vastly changing the traditional office environment.

Employees, especially millennials, require flexible offices that enable them to

work from any location, using whatever devices they feel most comfortable with.These types of employees know that with the advanced audio

and video collaboration tools that are available, a as-good as-being-there communication experience can be delivered,

whether they are in a coffee shop or on the beach.

Here are some of the trends that will kill the colourless

cubicle and stuffy boardroom

Bleisure, the portmanteau of business and leisure, recognises how modern employees juggle the work life balance.

Workspaces should be designed to favour collaboration and innovation. Bleisure workplace designers are creating spaces like serendipity corners and chance-encounter corridors to foster interaction, creativity and engagement.

The ‘bleisure’ concept

Foster interaction, creativity and engagement.

Collaborative open spaces and ‘I want to be alone’ nooks are starting to co-exist in freshly-renovated offices where the cubicle walls have finally come down. Many companies are enabling their employees to use off-site co-working spaces that are now available in many hotels and public spaces.

The shape-shifting office

Collaborative open spaces and ‘I want to be alone’ nooks are starting to co-exist in freshly-renovated offices.

Today, almost every electronic device is connected to the Internet of Things. Soon, these devices will have the ability to anticipate our movements, objectives and work patterns, and communicate with each other, making everything we do, whether at home or at work, increasingly seamless.

The age of everyware

Almost every electronic device is connected to the Internet of Things.

Millennials expect the world to behave and think as they do, in ways that are collaborative, connected, and creative, but also local, artisanal, agile, and civically aware.

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Their mobile devices are indispensable to them, and all-wireless offices are being designed to meet their needs.

The mobile generation work ethic

50%eschew the 9-to-5 routine in favour of working late evenings

New offices are being created based on the concept of a micro-village: they break down the barriers between executives and employees by transforming one person offices into collaborative group areas organised according to function rather than seniority. Designs like these offer teams greater opportunities for innovating, sharing, and simply having fun.

The higher-ups come down to earth

Designs like these offer teams greater opportunities for innovating, sharing, and simply having fun.

The Future Laboratory reports that tomorrow’s offices will be a manifestation of new work attitudes, featuring zoned areas in which workers can alternate between business and leisure. The new workspace will look less like an office and more like a multipurpose apartment or leisure park, where workers can eat, sleep, relax, play, and work.

The rise of bleisure hives

The new workspace will look less like an office and more like a multipurpose apartment.

The rise in popularity of co-working spaces for freelancers and start-ups in urban centres attests to the value of sharing ideas with other business categories. They enable workers to cut rental costs and to network with other entrepreneurs. But many executives believe it’s just a matter of time before companies adopt them.

Co-working spaces go corporate

They enable workers to cut rental costs and to network with other entrepreneurs.

“These spaces are melting pots of creativity. They generate a level of synergy that results from the

proximity and collaboration of like-minded people. New relationships

are developed. Ideas are challenged. Problems are solved.”

Beau Britton.

Want to incorporate the bleisure concept into your workplace?

Learn more with this eGuide:

Generating a collaborative culture: How to build innovation in your enterprise

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