The last few years have been the most turbulent that anyone can remember – economically, socially, personally.
The world of work has had to transform almost overnight, and it’s widely speculated that it might not ever revert to anything like its pre-COVID form. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With disruption comes opportunity, and there is much talk about the golden opportunity we have to capture the gains made, while refining the rough edges and optimising the performance of new workspaces, new policies, and new opportunities.
With so much change happening – and all the attendant opinions in the press, around boardroom tables, and in offices up and down the country – we felt there is merit in cutting through the noise, homing in on the key issues that are shaping the workspace in 2022.
We got our collective heads together to pinpoint the most important trends that we believe will inform workspace design and specification over the next year or so, as we move out of pandemic lockdown territory and towards whatever comes next:
- The new role of IT
We’ve come a long way since the first incarnation of ‘digital transformation’ – tech is enabling businesses to be entirely reimagined. Pretty much every company is a technology company in some sense, and this has put the IT team at the centre of business innovation, not just in a support function.
- People-centric organisations
When it comes to success in business, it’s arguably down to the people who make up the organisation. More and more businesses are recognising that a focus on stakeholder wellbeing is an essential ingredient in their being competitive, resilient, and delivering excellent service. In the post-COVID world, being people-centric is less a choice, more a necessity.
- The post-COVID bounce-back
Although remote has many benefits, there’s a significant buzz around returning to the office, from some quarters at least. In a bid to tempt more of their people back to HQ and rebuild in-person relationships, many businesses are re-casting their space to support an emphasis on collaboration and culture-building, while ensuring that the office-day benefits outweigh the additional time and effort spent commuting.
- Creating culture within a dispersed workforce
One of the greatest challenges of our time, at present, is the attraction and retention of good staff, to drive the best business outcomes. Culture is one of the key factors here. But one of the hardest challenges to overcome during lockdown was how to ensure that culture endured – and with remote working continuing, the issue is still pertinent. The right technology helps to bridge the gap.
- Data-driven decision making
Now that digital and physical workspaces are melding, there is an unprecedented amount of data regarding how go about our working days, which gives business leaders a considerable advantage over their predecessors. This data can be interrogated at quite a granular level, to inform decision making and optimise budgetary spend, making sure that workspace design and specification supports the business need exactly, with no wastage or redundancy.
Click here to download our Trend Report 2022-2023, and find out more about the most pressing factors influencing work today.
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