The office or workplace is no longer where you need to work, given that you can validly work anywhere, but instead it is where you choose to work in order to interact and communicate with your colleagues.
efficiency in the office environment
It is the creation of a workplace environment that naturally fosters communication, dialogue and collaboration, but it needs to be well thought through, cognisant and respectful of human behaviours and needs. Within this context, we believe it is important to develop a new set of criteria that defines the principles that should be applied to the way we think about the workplace and its function as a communicative, human-focused space in an increasingly global and digital world.
We need to create a workplace that offers choices – a place that recognises that we function in different ways throughout the day and allows users the freedom to choose the space and tools that best suit their personality, mood and the type of work to be undertaken. To aid the creation of a suitable, supportive and human work environment, the workplace should be broken down into definable and intimate scale.
Offices therefore need to provide settings that support and facilitate both scripted and serendipitous interchanges.
future of offices and working culture
The role of the office or formal workplace is changing. New mobility and connectivity means that the office no longer has its traditional monopoly as being the productive centre. On the other hand the office has and will continue to fulfil important business and social needs, however it will need to do this with a changed form and emphasis. The office or workplace is no longer where you need to work, given that you can validly work anywhere, but instead it is where you choose to work in order to interact and communicate with your colleagues. We’re social creatures in the end, so offices will remain but maybe at a reduced scale.
Work is a matrix of relationships, friendships and social interactions. We all benefit and develop at a personal and professional level from interaction, communication and collaboration with our colleagues. Offices therefore need to provide settings that support and facilitate both scripted and serendipitous interchanges. If the office is to assist employees fulfil a social and work-life balance, the office building needs also to reassess its role in creating a sense of community and in the fostering of connections between like-minded businesses.
