Today's modern workplace is not as it used to be. Instead of those cramped cubicles, we now have wide open spaces. Instead of those dusky archives, we now have the cloud. And instead of that strict 9-to-5 schedule, we now have flexibility. While these examples here are by no means exhaustive, they do, however, paint an entirely different picture about today's office, as opposed to what we were used to several decades ago. This is how to make your business a modern workplace.
One such modern workplace has plenty of advantages, yet many are still using the traditional model. Nevertheless, it's important to remember that the modern workplace is still going through a transition period, meaning that it hasn't reached a final form. It also says that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and every business has to create its workplace, based on their needs and respective industry.
In any case, here are some guidelines.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the changing face of the modern workplace is driven in large part by digital technology and automation. It's pretty much the same trend, but to a much larger degree, to what happened when the PC arrived during the mid-1980's.
Today, however, with various automation software for multiple industries, cloud computing, and social technologies, the way people work is no longer the same. Known as the Internet of Things (IoT), these technologies and the devices they use, are creating a much more efficient, intelligent, and connected workforce.
Another critical ingredient for the modern workplace is flexibility. It refers mainly to employee working schedules and can take numerous forms, depending on the type of business you have. For instance, flexibility in the workplace can imply full or partially remote work.
It can also mean a so-called flex schedule where employees can create their schedules, as long as they make their 40 hours per week. Likewise, flexibility can also take the shape of a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE), where results take center stage, not hours worked, or it can even imply unlimited vacation days, among other such examples.
With increased flexibility in the workplace, the need for good communication and collaboration could not be higher. When creating your modern workplace, the discussion needs special consideration, otherwise, risk everything falling apart.
When not all of your employees are under the same roof, at the same time, some may be excluded from meaningful conversations. It can lead to increased suspicion and worry, which, in turn, may result in decreased employee happiness and productivity and a higher turnover rate. Regular internal newsletters and employee feedback can help mediate this situation. Making frequent use of social technologies such as Skype is yet another.
Under the traditional model, performance reviews were given roughly once per year. But in today's fast-paced business environment, this model is not only obsolete but can also be counterproductive. For a whole year, an employee could be thinking that they're doing a good job, and then faced with a barrage of negative feedback and reviews.
Like with the point above, once-per-year performance reviews will do no one any favors. With more and more employees working off-site, monthly or weekly checkups will better help clarify objectives, improve efficiency, and morale, and will also keep these employees in the loop.
These are some of the core elements that define the modern workplace. But as mentioned before, each business needs to create its system that will best fit its individual needs. But by focusing on leveraging automation technologies and providing your employees with flexibility and better communication, you are driving modernization.
Are you ready to take the next step for a Modern Workplace? Managed Solution can come on-site for a Microsoft Customer Immersion Experience (CIE) and provide a hands-on demo of productivity tools that help promote a flexible and collaborative work environment. Learn more about CIEs here.
Many employers around the world have realized that the traditional way of running a business no longer works with the present-day trends and changing face of the modern workplace. The old way, not only reduced the overall efficiency of a company but it wasn't able to meet the new challenges that accompany the so-called Internet of Things.
Long are the days of the cubicle. Today, more and more people are conducting their work from remote locations, either from their home or another place that has an internet connection. Under the traditional workplace and with the rigid practices that it involved, employees could not effectively communicate with each other over long distances. Modern companies use social and collaborative software such as Skype, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Docs to break any distance barriers and work together in real time and across borders, in many cases.
Today's rapid technological evolution has led to much experimentation in the area. Some businesses, for instance, went on to adopt a sort of shared workspace. It implies an office where the common equipment shares among all staff members that need it. So, instead of having five desks with five computers, and with five of everything for each of the five employees, this shared business model could use only three of everything for those five employees. We don't live in the Age of Efficiency for nothing, after all.
Other companies, however, go for the work-life integration approach as a means of providing an engaging environment for both employees and future recruits. Unlike the more common work-life balance, work-life integration does not aim to make a clear divide between one's personal and professional life.
It, instead, focuses on mixing the two throughout the day so that people can achieve both. With work-life integration, employees can, for instance, come a bit later to work, do some tasks for an hour or two, go to lunch with friends, come back to work for several more hours, go to their child's recital, and finish up work at home, later in the evening. This schedule is more in tune with what digital technology already provides us as opposed to a strict 9-to-5 schedule.
But the changes don't stop here. Some organizations such as Google, among others, are hosting various innovators and start-up right on their premises. Known as a community or coworking spaces, these provide ample benefits for all involved. On the one hand, these start-ups have the opportunity to take part in many events, seminars, or training offered, while Google provides its employees to interact with other experts in their field, while at the same time, they can keep an eye out for top talent that may be present.
In other instances, companies encourage their employees to go off-site and work from various hubs or remote locations that freelancers usually frequent. Like before, it allows the company's staff to get an outside perspective, maybe get some new ideas which can also be implemented by the company, itself.
There's no denying the fact that the world is currently going through a transition phase. This transition affects everything, including how modern offices operate. Now, whether these initiatives presented above will stick over the long-term or not - it's probably too early to tell. What's for sure, however, is that we will never return to the traditional way of doing things.
Read more about the modern workplace in our blog, "The New Look of the Modern Workplace".
Ever since the introduction of the typewriter at the turn of the 20th century and up until the mid-1970's the office environment remained pretty much the same. It was with the Wang word processing systems that the office look began to change. Sometimes in the 1980's, personal computers became the primary tool for office work, exacerbating the change even further. And like with the introduction of these technologies of the past, so does modern technology influence the present and the new look of the modern workplace.
New and disruptive technologies don't only change the way we interact with each other or how companies do business. They can also change the look of the entire office environment. In a sense, the office environment was redesigned and reorganized around the PC and in more recent years, around all the digital and mobile devices as well as other similar technologies. And by extension, this change is also affecting how employees conduct their daily duties.
So, how does a modern workplace look like in this day and age? Here are two key elements that heavily influence the contemporary workplace.
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT) and all the technologies that accompany it have made it possible for an increasing number of people to work remotely. Commonly known as telecommuting, it is a global phenomenon where around 70% of all professionals, worldwide, work from home at least once a week. Also, 53% telecommute at least half the week.
With a combination of mobile devices and cloud computing, many staff members are no longer obligated to come to work under a strict 9-to-5 schedule. As long as their job gets done on time, it doesn't matter exactly where they work. Since their work is mostly over the internet, many e-commerce businesses don't even have a physical office, to begin with, relying solely on telecommuting or virtual offices, if and when the situation calls for it.
For those companies that still require a permanent physical presence, offering their employees the benefits of work-life integration is the way to go. For those of us who don't know, work-life integration is a means by which people can integrate both their personal and professional lives in such a way that both can be achieved at the same time. Providing flexibility in the workplace was shown to increase employee morale, happiness, health, and productivity.
Did you know that the average office employee spends roughly 28% of their work time sending and receiving emails? Also, they spend another 20% of their time searching for relevant internal information or looking for colleagues who can help them with their tasks. Cloud computing and social technologies, however, can reduce this wasted time by as much as 35%, in some cases, and raise employee productivity by as much as 25%.
Automation also plays a crucial role in shaping the modern workplace. Numerous automation software can now eliminate much of the grunt work and tedious tasks that would otherwise fall onto the employees, themselves. Financial or medical institutions, for instance, will no longer have to spend countless hours looking through documents, trying to find relevant information. A piece of software can do it. It will free up your employees to spend their time on more meaningful tasks that require their attention.
It would be a mistake to look at a modern office today and think that it will remain the same in the future. As mentioned before, the workplace environment is highly susceptible to any technological developments, meaning that the office environment will also change with them. We are currently going through a technological revolution, after all. Are you ready for what’s next?
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