Freight and Logistics is currently going through a period of extensive change and growth. Pandemic-induced online spending is up. In fact, there was a 57 per cent increase in online shopping in 2020 compared to 2019. Customer expectations are high, individuals and businesses want things delivered yesterday and at the lowest possible cost.
In the last 18 months, the “workplace of the future” has accelerated faster than we could have imagined. No longer are we talking about remote work, e-commerce, and automation as ‘coming’ – they’re here. And they’re here to stay. So how should you respond to these changes and what else is on the horizon for the workplace?
The office is changing dramatically – and you need to quickly adapt. Preparing your workplace now will help you adjust to new employee expectations, adopt emerging technologies, and establish processes that support the new ways of working. In this post, we highlight the key workplace trends and how you can prepare for them, plus the policies and procedures you will need for the office of the future.
Australian workplaces have already changed so much from March 2020. And they will keep on evolving as companies and employees adjust to the ways of working. It’s important to start making the necessary preparations now so you can future-proof your workplace and be ready to respond to any ongoing changes in the working environment.
To help you develop an effective workplace strategy, we have identified key trends that will shape the workplace in 2021 and beyond.
Remote work and virtual meetings will continue
Remote working has become a part of the new workplace. 80% of Australian businesses say that remote work is here to stay even after the pandemic, and expect the trend to carry on through the long-term. And as a result, virtual meetings will also continue to be an essential way for teams to connect and collaborate.
To prepare your workplace for continued remote working, it is essential to have the right technology in place. Implement technology that provides a seamless and consistent experience for both onsite and remote teams. Having the right digital collaboration tools like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace can help ensure that employees stay connected, engaged and productive.
Meeting rooms also need to be equipped with the right video conferencing technologies that help bridge the gap between the physical and virtual working environments.
Lastly, your company needs to maintain a positive and inclusive culture within a hybrid working model, engaging with all employees – whether they are working at the office or remotely.
Faster adoption of automation and AI
Automation and AI would be the main focus of many workplaces as companies focus on streamlining processes and building more efficient operations. These innovative technologies can improve workflows, analyse complex data, and automate manual tasks.
But how do you prepare your workplace now for the faster adoption of automation and AI? It starts with understanding the impacts of these technologies on your current and future operations. What tasks and processes can you automate? What is the best way to deploy the necessary AI-powered tools? What new operational models need to be implemented? Answering these questions can help you plan the way forward.
The next step is to get buy-in, not only from upper management, but also from all employees. Workplace transformation won’t happen if you don’t get the support you need from stakeholders and staff.
More workforce transitions
As you implement AI and other new technologies, there will be a need for more staff training and development to help develop the necessary skills in the digitally enabled environment. So, more workforce transitions would be expected to happen in the future workplace so people can adjust to the changes in processes, roles, and operational models.
To prepare for this trend, your workplace needs to be able to support and facilitate educational programs for all employees. These programs would focus on developing critical skills as well as open up opportunities for personal and professional development.
One way to deliver these educational programs is through online training platforms like podcasts. According to Annelie Xenofontos, Senior Workplace Strategist at Axiom Workplaces, a growing trend is to use workspaces to “host podcast style, recording studios, where trainers can record something and then broadcast it to the organisation so they can train online. CEOs can make announcements that are pre-recorded. Employees can also be onboarded online.”
Renewed focus on workplace resilience
If there’s one thing that the pandemic has taught us – it’s that we cannot control or predict the future. Unexpected events can happen anytime. To survive, businesses need to be able to respond and adapt quickly to changes.
In a hybrid workplace model, workplace resilience becomes more important than ever as teams adjust to new ways of working and bridge the gap between the physical and virtual environments. So, how do you build a resilient workplace?
As you can see, there are a lot of changes happening in the future workplace. And you need to make sure that you provide clear expectations and guidance around employee behaviour, day-to-day processes, and operational workflows. Here are some of the policies and procedures needed in the new workplace:
Remote work
With remote working set to continue, you need to have a policy that guides people as they work from home or remotely from another location. The remote work policy should include who can work remotely, how often, and what procedures need to be followed. This needs to also cover health and safety recommendations while working remotely – with guidelines on home office and desk setup, handling computer equipment, emergency procedures, and tips for wellness and mental health.
Annelie highlighted the need to talk to your HR department and make sure they have the right flexible policies in place for remote working. “They need to have policies that clearly define what needs to be provided from a facilities perspective. Do we send employees a chair, table and monitor? Or do they just get an allowance to purchase what they need? There also needs to be a policy on checking that the workspace at home is actually safe when working remotely.”
Virtual meetings
This policy on virtual meetings would be needed to help guide both onsite and remote workers as they connect and collaborate with each other. The policy would focus on procedures in scheduling and joining online meetings, setting up your video and audio, and logging in to the video conferencing platform. It can also include virtual meeting etiquette like dressing appropriately, muting when you’re not talking, speaking up and contributing, plus staying focused and paying attention during the meeting.
Security
You may already have a policy on security, but it’s worth reviewing and updating this to make sure your company data remains protected in a hybrid working environment. As employees continue to work remotely and access applications and data from cloud-based platforms, this can expose the company to numerous cyber security risks. The security policy would help employees be aware of any threats, take precautions when visiting websites and downloading documents, and make sure their device security software is always kept up to date.
Digital inclusion
With a hybrid workforce working from different locations, a policy that covers dispersed workers has become more important. The policy should clearly communicate the value that the company puts in supporting their dispersed workforce. It should promote a positive and inclusive culture where everyone has equal access to technology, resources and opportunities, including remote workers who can feel isolated and disconnected from the rest of the team.
If you’d like to learn more about how to prepare for the workplace of the future, read our Progressive Leader’s Guide to the Future of Work in Australia.
The office of today is vastly different from the office of 30 years ago. In fact, workplace design has significantly changed in as little as the last five years. Over the years, the workplace has become more than just a place for people to clock in and out of, mindlessly completing tasks and watching the seconds of the day tick by, wishing it was 5pm already.
As technology and management ideologies have evolved, so has the space we work in. The modern workplace is now one where workers have more freedom to decide how, where and when they work. It is imbued with a focus on health and wellbeing, and it is increasingly being treated as an extension of an employee’s life, rather than an isolated compartment.
In this post, we will identify the hallmarks of the modern workplace, their benefits and what it might look like if your workplace design isn’t meeting the evolving needs of your employees. But first, let’s start with what modern employees are looking for in their workplace.
Workplace expectations have changed, and with a war on talent, employees are holding the cards. In a recent survey, a few key findings about workplace design were unearthed:
Technology: From instant messaging to cloud-based project management tools to the latest hardware, tech is boosting productivity in offices worldwide. Workplaces are including wireless charging stations, monitors which easily connect with laptops and boardrooms with user-friendly wireless presenting.
Health: Say goodbye to harsh fluorescent lighting, windowless spaces and white on beige colour schemes. Offices today are expected to be kind on the eyes, both physically and aesthetically. Think natural light, indoor greenery and carefully selected interior elements, all designed with employee wellbeing and productivity in mind.
Recreation and relaxation: Today’s workplace understands that it’s not all about desks, cubicles and offices. Areas to break out, get creative and have some time to unwind are all becoming more popular. Meditation rooms, on-site gyms, rooftop terraces and multipurpose rooms are all becoming the new norm.
Privacy: While the open-plan office is nothing new, the workplace of 2020 recognises that the hubbub of the masses can be distracting and decrease productivity. Private booths, quiet zones and secluded meeting rooms are designed for distraction-free working time or private discussions, giving employees more flexibility to choose what’s best for the task at hand.
Now we know what the modern workplace looks and feels like, let’s delve a little deeper into the benefits your company might see with a well-designed workspace.
Savvy companies know that treating an office as a cost centre is an old-fashioned and costly (excuse the pun!) mistake. Smart businesses understand that investing in a well-designed workplace is a way to increase revenue by supporting improvements in employee engagement, efficiency and productivity. Bonus: this focus does not go unnoticed by potential talent!
Businesses are expected to have more than a mission statement hung on the wall; rather, they are obliged to create workplaces which live up to their vision. Spot the problem: your company culture is apparently focussed on employee health, yet your office is dark and dingy, and there is no access to an employee wellbeing program. Or how about saying your business is one that values flexibility, yet your office features rows of cubicles which employees can’t leave till 5 pm or later.
The modern workplace is one that considers how design impacts on the health and wellbeing of employees. And not just the physical space, but also the overall practices and culture of the company. By supporting healthy decision making, businesses are reducing both absenteeism and presenteeism, as well as boosting productivity. Your employees will look forward to coming to work instead of counting down the minutes to clock-off time
As you may have already noticed, there are several symptoms that your current office space is no longer meeting the needs of your employees.
Here is a quick checklist of some of the most common signs, to help you quickly spot if you have an issue in your current space:
If you’ve ticked the box for any or all of the above, now may be the perfect time to think about revisiting your workplace strategy and design. Check out our white paper to discover more about how workplace design influences digital transformation across the critical areas of talent, diversity, innovation and technology.
Axiom Workplaces combines your commercial fitout goals with our experience and expertise in evidence-based office design to create a thriving workplace for you and your workforce.
What’s that saying about failing to plan? We know there are a few of them, and with good reason. Planning your office move is no different. Taking the time to make the most informed decisions can be the difference between a successful office relocation with minimal downtime and effect on productivity and an unsuccessful move that is stressful, inefficient and disruptive.
Preparing in advance will ensure your move is streamlined, both for your employees, teams and departments as well as for your clients and customers. A well-planned office move will mean a smooth transition where business-as-usual is affected as little as possible.
With this in mind, it makes sense to work alongside reliable and experienced professionals with plenty of the right skills and knowledge to ensure your office move goes off without a hitch. In this post, we’ll cover the key specialist roles usually employed in an office move and how they can help you make the best and most informed decisions when planning your office move.
Keeping your employees satisfied and attracting top-notch talent is a difficult job and designing an employee-centric workplace is one of the most important ways you can recruit and retain incredible employees. A workplace strategist will assist you to integrate the people, places and processes of your business, ensuring a productive, happy and efficient workplace.
Bringing together knowledge in facilities, interior design, real estate and IT, your workplace strategist can help you lower costs, drive workplace transformation and increase collaboration within and between teams and departments.
Undergoing major change, like office relocation, can be the perfect catalyst to hire a workplace strategist to create a holistic strategic framework from which your company can continue to grow.
An agent is a landlord representative. It’s their job to lease out space in buildings. Most commonly, they have five or six buildings in their portfolio at any time, and they represent the landlords of those spaces. Whilst they are working on the landlords’ behalf representing their client’s interests, they also seek to maximise the potential of the space to garner the best result.
On the other side sits a tenant representative, who does exactly that – they are your representative as the tenant. They are focussed solely on your needs, without being tied to a landlord, and will negotiate with both landlords and agents on your behalf. Their fee is paid by you and is usually a commission percentage based on the savings they have achieved for you.
As the name suggests, a commercial interior designer will create and direct the construction of a commercial space. From coming up with the initial concepts and floor plans, to developing a look and feel palette and 3D visuals, to directing and managing the actual rollout of the interior design, the commercial interior designer is there to guide the entire process. Not only will they design and implement interiors which match your brief, but they are also a source of expert professional knowledge around the construction process.
Understanding and entering a commercial lease is a complex and considerable undertaking. Therefore it is crucial you have considered the financial and legal implications.
It is likely your CFO’s role to look at and understand the office relocation costs as well as the ongoing lease costs and work out at what levels the business is comfortable with.
A commercial leasing lawyer will be best placed to review your lease agreement and can even negotiate on your behalf in terms of fixtures, fit-out and costs. A lawyer will also check for clauses that are not in your favour, eg. big payouts at the end of your lease or unreasonable make-good obligations.
Working with a workplace design partner like Axiom will help you to define a detailed workplace strategy to help increase productivity and support your overarching business goals. Using this as a foundation they can translate these ideas and objectives into a physical workspace that meets your needs.
A good workplace design partner starts by understanding your business needs now, and your needs into the future. They will look at your people, culture and what is currently happening in your organisation to design a workplace strategy and physical workspace that is unique to your business and based on hard evidence.
Partners like Axiom Workplaces look at the big picture and are with you throughout the journey – from design conceptualisation, planning, the fit-out itself, and, after completion, they will continue to make sure your workplace transformation is right for you and your people.
Throughout Axiom’s process, clients are supported by a highly-skilled, experienced and responsive team who nurture, develop and assume total responsibility for every detail, ensuring you are consulted at each stage of the project.
Ready to jump in? Book your free consultation with Axiom today.
According to a recent research report by Deloitte, the office is not getting any smaller or going away anytime soon, even with advances in mobile and digital technologies. In fact, from 1990 to 2017, the amount of total available office floor space in Australia even grew by 60%.
Technology is definitely transforming the workplace and how people work – but not the way most people think. Robots won’t be replacing everyone’s jobs. Deloitte mentions that people will still be ‘central to the future of work.’ What will change is the types of work humans do and the skills needed to succeed in the future.
At a lunch-and-learn event, we covered how technology drives workplace transformation. In this post, we go deeper into the discussion and focus on the impact of technology on the way people work:
You need to start thinking of how technology can be integrated as early as possible. According to Dan, you have to consider technology in the early stages of the process and “talk about technology today as a scalable investment.”
During an office move or refurbishment, people usually focus on where the space is going to be and what it’s going to look like. They defer technology decisions towards the end of the project – when budgets and timeframes are already constrained. This results in making some significant sacrifices on the technology front. They start cutting down on the things they wanted at the beginning. And they end up letting down the people who are going to use that work environment, ultimately impacting the level of potential productivity that could be leveraged.
So, don’t make the same mistake. Start to think about technology as a platform approach and identify and invest in what you need early.
Also, by thinking about technology early and properly communicating your needs to providers and partners, the better off you will be in meeting expectations and deadlines and achieving the outcomes you wanted at the beginning.
Technology has such a significant impact on the workplace, that it is changing the way people work. Here are some insights from our panel of experts:
People still seek human connection
With advances in mobile and digital technologies, people are now able to work anytime, anywhere. These days, people have the freedom and flexibility to work from home and outside the normal 9-5 hours.
But it seems employees still look for human connection. There is a slow shift back to people wanting to work in the office. They like meeting face-to face, looking people in the eye, shaking hands and directly engaging with colleagues and customers. Some even think that they are more productive and effective when working side-by-side with their team in the office.
Work-life harmony
Let's call it “work-life harmony” rather than balance as we all have to go to work and go home at the end of the day. Both work and home life are intertwined but it’s the communication piece in the middle that enables us to connect with our families and colleagues. Nothing can replace the element of human connection.
That’s why companies like Axiom develop workplaces that enhance human experiences and implement technology that enables harmony between work and home life – encouraging people to come back to the office. This then creates a cultural shift attracting employees of all levels, including leadership, to come in and get the work done.
Personalised service
Why would someone come to this office? As an employee, why would I want to do this? What’s in it for them? These are some of the questions that you need to consider when building workplace environments.
It’s not just about how impressive the technology is that you want to integrate. It also needs to serve a purpose. People need to see and experience the value of the service. Plus, it needs to be personalised to each individual’s need. For every inconvenience, we need to give employees two conveniences so they can start to offset one another, and they can start to see the value proposition beyond the friction.
Technology won’t be able to solve everything. There are going to be certain problems that you’re never going to be able to overcome or be able to rectify, but if you start to add lots of little things people can identify with – then they will begin to see the overall value of what you’re trying to do.
So, don’t just give your employees a desk to work on, personalise the service and make things easier for them. This would not only increase employee job satisfaction but also improve productivity and efficiency in the workplace.
This is how it all comes together; you’ve got to treat the working environment with respect and your employees with respect.
Want to learn how a design partner can help implement the right technologies to create a more productive and engaging workplace for your employees? Check out our free ebook How to choose a workplace design partner. Download it now!
Technology is changing the way we work. The current workplace is no longer a single place people go to do their jobs. With advances in mobile devices, networks and cloud computing, employees can now work anywhere, anytime with just a laptop and an internet connection.
This enables enhanced staff flexibility, collaboration and productivity never before seen in the workplace. However, to achieve the best results, companies not only need to provide the right workplace technology and tools for people to do their work but also create a working environment that caters to individual needs and preferences.
In this post, we focus on some valuable insights to help you create a workplace culture that adapts to advances in technology, and more importantly, delivers greater efficiency, productivity, flexibility and employee job satisfaction.
For a growing business, it’s important to make sure that the decisions you make today are still going to be relevant in the future, as change can happen so quickly. Here are some key actions to future-proof your workplace:
We all know that the greatest resource for any business is its people. There are two ways technology can add value to your employees and help them become more innovative and creative:
1. Customising the experience
It’s important to realise that most of your staff just go to the office to do the work they need to do and collect a pay cheque. That’s the reality. So, how can you help them to be more innovative and creative in their work? It is essential that you treat your employees with respect and understand that every employee is an individual, with their own needs and preferences.
You need to customise the experience for them. And technology plays a big role in doing just that. Tools and applications can be customised to suit employees’ life and work styles. Mobile and digital technologies can also make life easier for your staff – providing greater flexibility, efficiency and productivity. In essence, technology can give people more time to think creatively and focus on the more important things at work and in their personal lives.
2. Enhancing workplace culture
When people come together and collaborate at work, technology often works in the background and is not given much thought as it works on demand. However, technology plays an important role in enhancing the workplace culture. For instance, digital signage in the office can actually help inspire people at work. You can tell stories about the business, where it’s going and the success it’s currently having.
We’ve all experienced some sort of frustration when connecting with people via video conferencing. We hear comments like ‘I can’t hear you’ or ‘your video froze’ or even ‘connection just dropped’. So, how can you ensure the best experience?
It’s important to start with understanding your company’s communication needs. What would make it easier for them to communicate with each other? How will employees use video conferencing? Is video conferencing the best solution? Of course, you first need to make sure that the technology would be widely adopted by the different teams before you invest in improving the experience.
With the internet and Wifi connectivity becoming stronger, more stable and a lot quicker, people expect video conferencing to just work. If it doesn’t, they will find another way to communicate. We always try to find the easiest way to get things done. While video conferencing is important, it is not the only way to communicate. Businesses need to be able to offer employees a lot of choices when it comes to communication – audio, video, email and text.
Security needs to be at the core of your technological and digital initiatives. You need to understand the flow of information across your organisation. Business data could be emailed, shared on social channels or stored on the cloud in applications like, OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive.
But how secure is the cloud? Cloud applications are getting more and more secure plus companies are now better at implementing security protocols and measures to protect business data.
The bigger threat isn’t the cloud – it’s the internet of things (IoT). IT departments need to be more concerned about the devices, machines and apps connecting to the network. These ‘things’ connect to anything and have the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human interaction.
Also, stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog, as we go deeper into the experts’ discussion on how technology drives workplace transformation! Subscribe to our blog to make sure you don’t miss out and also read our Guide to the Future of Work.
Want to learn more about technology in the workplace? A design partner can help future-proof your business by implementing the right technologies to achieve your long-term objectives.
Check out our free ebook 'Digital Transformation: The Role of Workplace Strategy'
