Working World 4.0 in the New Work Context – Part 1: Workplace or Places
People, Place, Technology - People, Workplace, Technology
In a time in which we are moving at an almost absurd speed due to the technical possibilities, 4 generations with different prerequisites and needs are coming together. For the companies, it is now time to finally “get going” and initiate a rethink, because the dusty “top-down” structures, insofar as they still function at all, will no longer be effective in the long term in terms of the economy and the labor market.
Index
Places or work location
How and where will we work in the future.
In a time in which we are moving at an almost absurd speed due to the technical possibilities, 4 generations with different prerequisites and needs are coming together. For the companies, it is now time to finally “get going” and initiate a rethink, because the dusty “top-down” structures, insofar as they still function at all, will no longer be effective in the long term in terms of the economy and the labor market.
Agile working methods are being established in companies, collective intelligence is being activated through working models such as design thinking or WOL (working out loud) and thus the intrinsic motivation of employees is being promoted.
Only through self-determined work within a company culture characterized by trust, which is in constant communication with its employees, can the necessary flexibility demanded by today’s economic market be guaranteed.
Every company has to find a suitable instrument for the way into a new working world together with its individual employees and why not… even find it anew.
Helping to develop the vision and mission is not only an employee’s right, but also a duty.
It is a responsibility that is assumed by everyone involved and not an extension of vacation or break times. Unfortunately, many companies, especially SMEs, have always failed to see this from this perspective and complain about a shortage of skilled workers and a lack of junior staff. Almost nothing has changed in terms of recruitment patterns and schemes, until vacancy announcements, active sourcing on online channels and the digital management of applicants.
Office, coworking and workplace concepts
When searching for terms related to work and space, I landed on workplace concepts, working time concepts but with no hits on work location concepts?
But the place where I work will become more important in the future. Companies think superficially about the design of their workplaces. The office is the part you physically see, but it can also give you a completely wrong first impression.
Until now, we still had the old office concepts stored away and a “fancy” entrance area with bar tables is already seen as an indicator of a company in the New Work process. However, this does not necessarily indicate a contemporary workspace, because a user-oriented workplace requires a lot more.
Please do not confuse open spaces with open-plan offices! The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when this is referred to as a new type of…even in media reports.
The open-plan office is as in the linked article already characteristically represented, nothing else than a gigantic carpet area, on which desks and cabinets are arranged, in between human resources are shipped and what “us” in the 90’s as modern office landscape was sold. Because of the still miserable sound insulation at that time, it was not suitable for working, but it was wonderfully suitable for controlling the employees.
In an open space, I have to be able to offer activity-oriented and health-maintaining workplaces and spaces, which may involve a complete conversion or even a move to a new building. Depending on the size of the company, there are also alternatives, such as renting in a spacious coworking or through complete office sharing. This means renting jointly with other companies, which in addition to financial advantages can also have the nice side effect of providing external services in the same office or thus attracting new customers.
Remodel or move?
A survey of employees on their individual workplace requirements must be carried out in advance. However, if management levels already insist on their individual offices at this point and thus evade uniform restructuring, planning should be interrupted at this point and attention devoted to questions about corporate culture.
With all the offers of flexible workplace concepts, working time models and modern workplaces, it is essential that these are also used by the management as role models. Because it is often the case that no one else dares to do so. Surely someone knows “the huge lounge” in the office, which still looks like new after 4 years. Let’s ask ourselves why!
A workspace concept that offers all generations the desired freedom is not only dependent on the design situation, but results from compromises, foresight, insight and the “ability to let go” of outdated status symbols, such as one’s own desk. In today’s “war for talent,” no company that wants to be seen as an attractive employer can afford such ego trips.
The power of habit or clinging to a comfort zone has also bound many employees to a fixed workplace up to now. Hopefully, after the lockdown, there will be less resistance and more change in that context.
It is still seen as a component of commitment in the company: “I know that I will find my desk there and that I will receive my salary at the end of the month on the basis of my guaranteed working hours and attendance” – wage work, as Frithjof Bergmann would call it.
In a new world of work, the aim must be to raise this alliance of commitment to a different, meaningful level. This requires neither a fixed desk in the company office nor the control of a superior. Today, trust, appreciation and shared goals are the prerequisites for being connected to the company.
We need more diverse, flexible working models now.
The best known are home office, remote work, job sharing and working in a coworking space.
Each model has its justification and the choice for which individual employee decides depends primarily on the possibility of implementation.
If you have to be present at work for operational reasons, you cannot spontaneously decide to move a day to the home office. To this end, the framework conditions for absence and availability must be defined jointly within the team. Only then can the redesign begin, because the design of appropriate room concepts is only possible with this background knowledge.
All planning, such as that for desk sharing, depends on knowing how many employees work in the office on average, for example.
A needs-oriented work environment that is co-designed by employees inspires, promotes creativity and creates identity. There are a number of important points that need to be considered (lighting, ergonomics, temperature, volume, etc.) and for this reason I will go into more detail on the subject in a follow-up article.
Most companies are still at the beginning of their journey into a new working world, but there is a magic in every beginning – in my case, hope.
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