2023: A new outlook to the Workspace

The year 2020 started rough for the entire world; but in spite of the unfateful events that followed, nobody could have speculated the scale of devastation that this year would bring on human life.

As the world underwent lockdown in the light of COVID-19, workspaces witnessed an unimaginable change. Lakhs and crores of people had to take shelter at their own homes for carrying out their office work, as offices were shut. And within the blink of an eye, WFH became one of the most trending words of the year. It became a promising outlook for the future of workspaces. But can it really be incorporated 100%? How will workspaces look like in 2021? The year 2021 is definitely going to see some drastic changes in the workspace sector. Let’s have a look.

 

Flexibility
Owing to the remote work and the flexible working hours that followed the new routine, the working environments have eased now. The leaders realized that maximum productivity comes when people are given the freedom and flexibility to work at their own conditions and comfort. Most organizations realized that offering flexibility is generating an ideal output. And the flexibility to work from different spots within the office has already been initiated. In a CBRE survey,  83% of respondents reported that moderate changes have been already underway even before the pandemic to offer spaces options in which to work. This is going to continue and expand to flexible times and spaces as well.

 

Hybrid Office
As much hype as remote work received, with time, people realized that this cannot be a permanent solution to the entire workspace sector. JLL data claims that 70% of employees believe that the office environment is more conducive to team-building and creative collaboration. It helps them keep their personal and professional lives separate. Also, there are some work fields that cannot operate without a physical office and employees’ presence. So what now?

Hybrid office - a combination of remote and office work. Offices will be reimagined to incorporate the new model and bring feasibility to it. There will be more invention of companies in terms of the working environment, to synergize company resources, time, and technology. This will give a chance for every employee to try and achieve work-life balance.

 

Technology Intervention
Technology is the main hero that kept the entire workspace world going even when people stayed at home. Video calls became the go-to option for every brainstorming session, catchup calls, client meetings and whatnot. Employee and task management platforms caught more attention to track and update everybody’s work for better collaboration and productivity.

More such technological innovations will gain prominence in 2021. Smart technology will gain pace in its adoption to enable contactless operations wherever possible. Data security will be more pressing owing to the huge exchange of data in remote work, and companies will focus more to keep data intact. A Forbes article suggests that AI and ML will make work smarter in future offices.

 

More Collaboration
Collaboration is the essence of perfect teamwork and that means all the team members working unanimously, in cohesion, towards a common goal. During remote work, teams learned how to collaborate effectively. As people now join back their offices, the workplace will witness scaled up collaborations within teams, bringing a change in work dynamics and overall productivity.

 

Better Communication Skills
Working remotely made us realize how important proper communication is for work. The innumerable conference calls compelled even the introverts to talk through projects and discussions. Communication skill is something that needs polishing for better business and work interactions. HR should and will focus on bringing more soft skill training to enhance people’s communication skills and build confidence to speak publicly.

 

New Retention Strategies
A Workplace Insight article quotes, “With insights like this and the right HR processes & adaptive technology in place, businesses will be able to understand what measures need to be implemented, with an aim of improving the employee experience, job security and retention.”

With expanding options of where and how to work, employees may shift their jobs anytime as per their feasibility. To retain talent, companies need to up their game and reevaluate their operations, culture, and future outlook. They need to bring in new ways to keep the employees happy and engaged, like a dynamic working environment, flexibility, work ownership, trust, respect, and more. The companies will explore and deep dive on what the employees need to maintain a rich talent pool.

Times are changing, and so is the workspace sector. What seemed crucial at the start of 2020 may have become secondary today. As people are joining back their offices, these are the changes that they may expect in the workspaces with time. But what still remains crucial is people’s well-being and focus on unified productivity and growth.