With the growth of hybrid work showing no sign of slowing down, the traditional workspace as we know it has completely evolved. The workplace now is no longer solely limited to the office, conference room, or desk, it now encompasses any location where an employee may focus and complete their task, whether at home, at work, or somewhere in between.
Organisations now need to go through the smooth transition and be sufficiently prepared for the future of these workspaces as technology advances and human work patterns shift. Key points to address are how can they prepare their workspaces for the future, key practices to follow, and how they can measure the effectiveness of their workspace enhancements.
Dynamic, purpose-built spaces are essential
While the typical conference room, which can accommodate bigger gatherings, is still useful in any office environment, employees require different meeting places that are more tailored to their specific needs. Otherwise, employees may end up using huge meeting spaces for individual meetings or brainstorming sessions, or vice versa, causing workplace conflict and inefficient meeting room usage.
To help employees enjoy the right room setup they need to collaborate, purpose-built places can be developed within your office. Here are some examples of dynamic places that can be incorporated into the workplace.
Entry spaces
On-site staff can ask questions of the receptionist, examine or book available spaces, or complete crucial sign-in processes in these areas.
Individual places
These are ideal for one-on-one meetings with external stakeholders, informal brainstorming groups, or even finding a quiet location where staff can record content and presentations.
Team spaces
These are venues, similar to traditional conference rooms, where teams can gather, work, and brainstorm with remote or off-site personnel, or when a group needs to have a more professional and organised meeting.
Common spaces
These areas, such as a kitchen or break room are perfect for all-hands calls and large team gatherings because they allow individuals to discuss, ideate, and share their opinions in a casual setting.
Empower the remote workspace
With access to high-quality hardware and spaces designed specifically for meetings and collaboration, the workplace provides an outstanding atmosphere for cooperation.
The office is no longer the only place to work, and remote workers don’t always have access to the same purpose-built spaces. It may be difficult for them to be as efficient or have the same professional experience as their co-workers. To make employees deliver their best while working from home, equipment such as workstations and seats that stimulate productivity can be offered, while also protecting their health.
Another factor to consider is lighting, as direct sunlight from a window or a single light source can produce sharp shadows and saturated lighting, which can be mentally exhausting to stare at for long periods of time. It’s crucial to have a professional meeting experience that provides effective lighting equipment to remote employees that helps them address their lighting difficulties.
Implement unified communications for consistency and flexibility
Implementing a unified communications solution is one of the most effective methods to train staff to be successful and productive, both in the office and remotely. An enterprise-grade unified communications solution can help develop a consistent technological experience while also incorporating flexibility into the work philosophy. Employees can benefit from a unified communications platform through.
Streamlined hotdesking
When hybrid employees are not in the office, they can easily see and book office facilities, as well as sign into on-site resources including conference rooms, desks, and other equipment.
Consistent and device-agnostic experience
An enterprise-grade solution that allows employees to interact and collaborate with nearly any device they own, and the user interface’s uniformity guarantees that employees have the same experience no matter where they are.
Enhanced flexibility
Hybrid workers can be productive regardless of their location since they have access to the same features and capabilities whether they are at home, at work, or somewhere in between.
How to identify if new technology and solutions that empower your business are actually having the desired effect?
Data is the most effective tool to determine how effective solutions are and to identify areas that require the most development.
Here are a few examples of how metrics can be used to assess the effectiveness of changes.
Use historical data as a guide
Although historical data such as the number of rooms and desks or previous employee engagement levels.
Obtain new metrics
Collecting new data points about room utilisation, such as how many people are in a room at any given moment, how many remote participants attended meetings in conference rooms, and so on, can give valuable insights into how spaces are being utilised and how to improve the experience.
The greatest data is the data you request
Employee surveys are ideal for identifying areas where you can improve. They can identify specific pain areas, typical hardware or feature demands, lost opportunities, and inefficient procedures and technologies.
To summarise, while the future of work requires businesses to adapt fast to a technologically creative environment, it is also critical to adopt user-friendly solutions for all involved. The more user-friendly a solution is, the more support it will receive from employees achieving better results all round.
Sam Tayan, Head of MENA at Zoom.
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