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Mar 2024
5 Min Read
2024 is the Year to Revitalize Your Workplace!
The world of work has been morphing into multiple dimensions, especially since the onset of mandatory office presence and the cessation of remote work in 2024. Right from adopting the right workplace design to focusing on the emotional development of the employees to ensuring the best employee engagement, there are a lot of factors that greatly impact your workplace.
As workplaces are where employees spend hundreds of hours, it is imperative to devise the perfect workplace design which can induce a sense of connection that inspires employees to go above and beyond the designated job tasks, deadlines and demands and strive towards achieving excellence and value.
We have curated a list of workplace trends that can add layers of zest and life to your existing workplaces.
Employee Engagement: From ROX to The Envy Office!
To meticulously gauge employee engagement and to address the limitations of traditional metrics like Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Equity (ROE), a new term called Return on Experience (ROX) has surfaced on the organizational fronts, which bridges the gaps in these traditional metrics. ROX takes into consideration the various employee experience factors along with the customer experiences, demonstrating a holistic view of the company’s health and success and tackling workplace wellness challenges. Businesses can foster meaningful relationships with both customers and employees through ROX, a powerful concept that proves happy and satisfied employees are most likely to deliver phenomenal customer experiences. Further, on the road to achieving employee engagement, organizations have understood that working from the office is the best way ahead.
With the motto of attracting young talents to the office, a new concept by The New York Times called ‘The Envy Office’ gained huge prominence, especially among tech firms and startups. This unique design concept of a workplace entails a living room, vibrant walls, plush furniture, stylish decor, inviting environment, subtle aesthetics, and much more, thus marrying the best worlds of comfort and luxury. Through such stunning workplace designs, organizations are avidly encouraging their workforce to showcase their workplace experiences on social media with a deeper aim of enhancing employee retention rates and luring remote employees back to the office.
Navigating the AI Wave: From GenAI Designs to Smart Buildings!
Even in the post-pandemic world we are living in, design and optimization of the office space is indispensable since employees spend a lot of their time there. Right from workstations to office pods to common areas to conference rooms, the deployment of AI and Generative AI tools has made the design and optimization of office spaces a piece of cake for organizations. Focus spaces especially stand out as the best perk for employees as they eliminate the distractions and noise in the workplace and encourage them to work from the office. Besides, AI holds multiple capabilities to support the entire workforce in a spectrum of new ways and create personalized experiences for them, thus enhancing their productivity, wellbeing, and the organization’s overall success.
Leveraging AI, organizations can enable heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in the workplace to analyze the occupants’ patterns and make real-time adjustments while also dynamically adjusting lights according to the lighting levels. Further, with predictive analytics, organizations can monitor and adapt a range of office assets, functionality, and space, predicting potential equipment malfunctions and failures, thus saving time and maintenance costs.
Hybrid Work Model: From Hotdesking to the Goldilocks Scenario!
The future of the office is indeed Hybrid! However, finding the right hybrid work model is the biggest challenge for most organizations today to make both employees and employers satisfied and strike the perfect balance. Evolved from the term - ‘hot racking’, hot desking stands as a hot topic in 2024 when it comes to hybrid working. Hot desking refers to the sharing of workstations among multiple employees, thus saving costs and leaving no office space unused. Moreover, flexible seating allows different teams to work collectively on the days they visit the office, thus fostering collaboration between teams.
Beyond hotdesking, most organizations have incorporated the Goldilocks scenario where they decide on the right hybrid model based on trial and error, akin to the fable of Goldilocks & the Three Bears. In this scenario, every employee gets something but not exactly what they want. Further, organizations are willing to pay a higher salary for the workforce that shows up at the office.
Allocating a Chief Hybrid Officer (CHO) to dedicatedly manage the chosen hybrid work model's requirements is an added advantage to organizations, thus ensuring productivity and navigating the workplace challenges. Office Synchronizer is another role created to optimize the office space and promote effective collaboration among teams.
Sustainability: From Circular Economy to Biomorphism!
In this fast-paced business world we are living in, the responsibilities of leaders extend beyond the frontiers of mere business and champion sustainable practices and effective ESG frameworks at the workplace. While the environment stands at the brink of major crises such as waste generation, poor indoor air quality & ventilation, lack of recycling and reuse practices, pollution from everyday commute to the workplace, and much more, implementing effective sustainability practices at the workplace is the need of the hour!
The way forward towards achieving the best of sustainability in 2024 is to engage with the concept of recycling of office assets. Especially with the Circular Economy (CE) concept booming in the workplace, most organizations have been reusing a chair in multiple ways after the chair’s first life ends, thus rightsizing their office space.
The other most implemented solution in the workplace is the inclusion of a biophilic design or biophilia, which includes greenery, natural light, and organic materials that not only boost mood and reduce stress but also enhance productivity and engagement. Biophilic designs like living walls, Zen gardens, skylights, and others stand as the highlighting elements of workplaces. Beyond Biophilia, most organizations are transitioning towards Biomorphism, where the workplace entails designs such as curved walls and natural graphics that are inspired by nature and resonate with the natural world.
The Return to Office Era
First came the Great Resignation, then came the Quiet Quitting and Moonlighting! The world of work has been witnessing a spectrum of movements and a sea of changes in the last few years. Hence, it is essential for organizations to address the main concerns and wellness challenges of the workforce while adhering to the key workplace strategies and trends that have been gaining momentum. In a nutshell, organizations ought to devise their own theme as how to run their business and which workplace trends or strategies might work for them to ensure that a strategic workforce is in place that duly comprehends the core business values and drives utmost success.
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