Many of us recall sitting at a dedicated desk, with a dedicated phone and a dedicated desktop computer (or even your very own notebook, in duplicate!) from 9.00 till 12.30 and then again from 13.30 till 17.30. This reliance on a physical location is alien to most of us now and indeed it is fewer of us who still work what you call ‘traditional office hours’.
Yet the workplace itself has fallen behind and is still mostly laid out as it always has been. (Given most offices have ditched the cellular offices at least). We still get rows of dedicated desks which stand empty most of the time and executive floors with acres of very smart, very expensive and mostly empty space. For some reason people resist sharing desks and still get to work at the same time as everybody else (for proof just hop on the underground at 8.45 any morning).
The workplace as an entity has changed almost beyond recognition in the last 10 years. One of the main drivers for this is technology. The speed technology has moved at is both impressive and frightening. Very few of us could do without a smartphone, yet they were reserved for the very few at the top just 15 years ago. Laptops where still relatively uncommon 10 years ago and the first iPad only came on the market as recently as 2010. With technology moving this fast no wonder the workplace can’t keep up.
What we need now is a healthy dose of constructive insanity, throw out the book and think about what your workplace really needs in order to work. Next time you speak to one of your senior execs, ask them how much time they actually spend in their office? My suspicion is that 50% would be high, which means you are paying for half of something you don’t need, or to put it differently, you are paying 200% of market rate… when you consider the cost of space (and the cost of maintaining the space to a reasonable standard) the argument for investing in smarter workplace technologies stacks up very quickly. We need to find a way to make the workplace, smarter, leaner and more connected without completely losing touch with our humanity.
So I would advise anybody responsible for an office refurbishment to do 3 things:
- Challenge the status quo. Ask why, how, what, who and when as often as you can and keep asking it over and over.
- Keep yourself informed – particularly with technology and innovations. Today’s expensive novelty could be tomorrow’s essential business tool (after all, who had a tablet in 2010?)
- Be prepared to take risks; use hotdesking, encourage flexible working and share resources.
So here is a challenge for you – next time someone asks you for a desk, ask yourself, could they work in their pyjamas?
For more information or to discuss an office refurbishment to contact Rudi du Plessis, e: [email protected] or t:01295 722823
