While office life is slowly getting back to normal, companies are now trying to piece together what exactly this new ‘normal’ will be. And that will have interesting and important ramifications on the commercial real estate industry in the Middle East.
Indeed, due to the ongoing pandemic, businesses are grappling with the issue of returning workers back to safe and clean office environments, as well as managing a hybrid workforce that may be quite comfortable ‘working from home’. Still, there are some new trends in workplace technology that should help get offices back up to full strength; from streamlined communications that will make working from the office more efficient to new touch-friendly experiences that will keep staff ever-protected.
Here are some of the ways technology will affect workplaces of the future, arguably for the better.
WORK WILL BE QUICKER AND MORE STREAMLINED
Data from Microsoft’s Modern Workplace Transformation team suggests that on average, people working from home clock-in an extra four hours more per week, than in-office counterparts. That’s down to a decrease in time spent in meetings, and greater time spent working after-hours, or over the weekends (which can be attributed to the blurring of work-life boundaries).
If businesses want to cash in on their workforce’s greater efficiencies, they will have to be more accommodating to their worker’s schedules. To support virtual meetings, for example, businesses will need to think beyond meeting rooms meant to accommodate large teams of people and look to smaller and more customizable booths. Companies will also have to ensure the same work-from-home tools employees have been utilizing over the past nine months continue to function – giving them the same connectivity at work, as they do at home.
HOW CAN THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY SUPPORT THIS INNOVATION?
First and foremost, property owners need to understand the businesses that occupy their buildings.
From flexi-office setups that let staff choose layouts that best suit their way of work, to ensuring technology infrastructure remains upgraded and useful – landlords need to find ways to create great experiences for those who return to the office. And the more they can do to ease the transition between digital work and physical work, the better.
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