“50% of people will be working remotely by 2020”
Thanks to the advanced technologies, more than half of office workers are predicted to be working remotely, shifting from desk-based setting to a free form workspaces.
According to the survey from Stanford University, it found that productivity of remote working was 13% higher than traditional counterparts. Furthermore, they will take less medical leave, while voluntary overtime went up 23%.
Those figures drive many organizations to invent working spaces in order to serve their employee’s needs, which is a major factor for changes. Office pod has been emerged as a unique and modern solution that enables company to provide quiet, distraction-free workspaces within company.
Christophe Veen and Bart de Groot from Buro Beehive designed a mobile self-contained office pod to transform underutilized buildings into affordable workspaces. It also offers a desk, storage, a second counter space, utilities and a sleek interior design.
Today, remote working has gained ahuge popularity, especially in Asia Pacific. A number of co-working spaces has grown rapidly to 11,500 in 2019, doubling the number in EMEA. This resonates a major shift of working habit among Asian.
Telecube – co-working in Japan style
Recently, Mitsubishi Estate in collaboration with the Japanese furniture maker Okamura and video-conferencing software developer V-cube Inc have joined hands to co-create Telecube, a phone-booth-sized mini-workspace for one.
“If you’re on the way back from a sales visit and happen to have 15 minutes of free time at a train station, you may want to access a quick workplace,” said Hiroyuki Mashita, Telecube’s chief executive office told Bloomberg.
Users will have to reserve the mini offices ahead of time, and unlock them using a QR code on smartphones. The booth costs 250 yen (70 baht) every 15 minutes, and corporate subscription plans charge a monthly rate for a fixed pool of hours.
An enclosure of just 1.2 square metres has been testing 22 prototype Telecube boxes since November with a very good feedback. It plans to install another 1,0000 boxes by 2023.
New Ways of Non-Remote Working
Although the idea of workspaces has transformed significantly. However, there is a number of companies that do not fit with remote working. They are developing different models to attract their staff to work in office.
Google is one of the world’s leading organizations that prioritizes in workspaces, bringing fun and creative vibe into working environment. It provides a range of facilities not just for work, but also sports, recreational activities and free food.
A California-based Cloud Content Management platform has been listed in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2019. It redefines its way of work as “Work is Play with a more personal mission: keeping its more than 900 employees happy, focused and engaged. Its offices revealed a colorful, creative and comfortable workspace that offers up a mix of whimsy — a lounge area inspired by a tropical setting, a wall decorated with toys — with plenty of high-tech, smart office tools and collaborative nooks intended to boost productivity
Business Advisors’ offices looks boring in general but not for Grant Thornton Belfast. It refurbished its office, wanting a “creative” workspace in which their staff “would feel excited to work” and changed the office layout to make it more fun. It hoped the fun, yet functional, office features would inspire creativity and productivity among staff and attract more new graduates to join the company.
In Thailand, the country’s leading mobile operator dtac has recently added a technology-driven space on 32nd floor of dtac House. The Never Stop Cafe has been introduced under EIC concept, aimed at providing spaces for its staff to engage and discuss any topics, which can build on innovation within the company. It’s not just a cafe, but co-working space within company.
dtac also encourages its employees to be innovative at heart by providing a 5G service on 28 GHz through 5G Wifi hotspot at Never Stop Cafe, enabling employees to experience capacity of 5G technology. This is the first step of 5G development towards Fixed Wireless Access, a 5G based service, that will be made available in the future.
Ditching your office – Future workplace?
However, the future trend of working habit may not be both desk-based setting or remote working, but it can be anywhere. That’s because technology empowers us. Software can model and engineer how collaboration happens.
In 2016, Facebook launched an online team collaboration tool using Facebook features for work and communicate within company. Staff is able to share updates, files, feedback and more. They’re like email threads, but better organized and easier to follow.
Presently, there are a lot more companies, trying to develop and figure out offices in the future to serve their staff needs, which is the core asset of organizations to survive during the tough time of digital disruption.
What type of offices do you prefer?