The work industry has changed at a much faster pace than anticipated by anyone else. It is the time when things are changing not just the way we work but also the way we collaborate and communicate with each other.
In the post-pandemic era, it was anticipated that employees would come back to offices with a whole different set of challenges but employees brought with them a new set of needs as well. They want to work differently, they need more than just money from their workspace, they are also looking for balance and growth and to enable enterprises to turn towards managed workspace platforms.
Harsh Binani, co-founder of Smartworks, India’s largest managed workspace platform believes that workspaces are going through a major shift not just in terms of the way we usually work but also a cultural change. The world has been prodded during the last two years to adopt new ways of working.
Employers are making thoughtful judgments as they reopen their offices and welcome employees to a different work paradigm as we move into the new normal. While changes that are to come in the workspaces are inevitable, Harsh Binani believes that long-held beliefs about how, where, and when work is done were disputed. Now is the time to rethink work and workplaces.
Leaders must assess, plan for, and react to the paradigm shifts in employee expectations. It’s crucial to zoom in and out on the immediate and long-term effects of potential solutions on the employee experience and the organization as you’re developing them. The future of the workplace will be shaped by a grasp of the key trends and subtleties.
Harsh Binani shares that although before the pandemic the major focus of the enterprises has been to bring out the most productivity in the employees now it has also shifted towards creating experiential workspaces that can cater to the upcoming needs of the employees and give them an office experience.
Human-centric workspaces are something that will motivate the workers of tomorrow. Employees are looking for workspaces that will be worth it for them to come out from the comfort of their homes along with adding value to what they already know and believe in.
They are not just looking for a job they are looking for an experience that makes them feel valued and important to the enterprise. These changing expectations are putting some sort of pressure on the companies as this is something never seen before, and to cater to these evolving needs Enterprises are turning towards managed workspace platforms shares Harsh Binani.
Pandemic has changed people to their very core which means that employees now expect enterprises to focus more on their well-being and their safety while they are working from the office. To cater to these needs offices are turning tech-enabled with certain amenities such as IoT- enabled meeting rooms, automated parking systems, digital access, and much more.
Working from home as a band-aid solution was implemented during the epidemic, but it has now developed into a new corporate paradigm. While some people are still having a good time, others are becoming tired. To win the talent battle, it was widely believed that having an office in a desirable area was essential.
Additionally, having coffee nooks, team meetings, recreational activity centers, and productive working hours allowed for the mandatory water cooler chats. The concept of a new normal office is redefined for the post-pandemic period as a center of invention and social interaction, break-out areas, a location to collaborate by design, and flex spaces.
The innovations that are coming in the workplace industry will give rise to office spaces that are more distinctive and purpose-driven, which is based on flexibility, well-being, and inclusiveness, as they step up to return to office planning. Harsh Binani believes that there is a technological shift coming in the workspace industry which will give rise to more tech-enabled, automated workspaces fuelled by the pandemic.
Despite the fact that the pandemic caused businesses to experience hard times, several saw enormous turnarounds and seized the chance to expand. By acquiring new abilities and modifying their behaviors to work more effectively, both organizations and individuals have realigned themselves with the new environment.
Today’s businesses are prepared to go beyond the “one-size-fits-all” approach to the workplace. It would be interesting to observe how companies handle utilizing the new prospects while also establishing a “better normal” at work.