The Future of the Workplace: What’s Next Is Here

The workplace picture is a fluid one. Advocates of workplace change believe organisations are not able to keep up with the pace of change; the notion that ‘a job is for life’ is disappearing; and workplaces are increasingly complex areas. While critics argue that these claims are sensationalized, producing unnecessary scaremongering. Regardless of what view one takes, a number of factors are contributing to a changing global pattern, which includes globalisation, democratisation, and technical and creative innovation. And each in some way is impacting upon the workplace.

Pivotal Events

Past pivotal events which have significantly impacted the workplace and brought it into its new (albeit ever changing) landscape have been identified as follows:

• The Advent of Communications Technology; this has enabled increased flexibility in the workplace as the move towards ubiquitous connectivity occurs
• Increased Use of Automation; there is a reliance on hand-held devices to minimize paperwork and boost the accuracy of data collection. Also, in terms of facilities management, greater focus is placed on integrating facilities and building control systems
• The Blackberry Device; the emergence of this device has enabled 24/7 access to people, allowing workers to choose their own work-styles
• Cost Reductions; their inclusion in new workplace concepts has encouraged employers to accommodate employees in creative and autonomous environments
• Real Time Data; while improving communication within the core business and it is supporting networks and services, this supports strategic decision making by improving reporting and monitoring system capabilities of different types of facilities
• Conflict, Terrorism and the Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction; these have led to security issues and preparation for extreme events by facilities and workplaces all over the world
• Flexible Working; growing acceptance of this concept is evident through the increased reliance on supplemental staff to help in-house staff cope with unplanned work. It also helps control labour costs and enables short-term staffing and in turn, helps managers focus on core competencies
• Over-Regulation; the Sarbanes Oxley reporting tool, for example, has been adopted out of necessity in the United States. However, financial services in the United Kingdom do not have an equivalent to this legislation, thus creating different business pressures in different regions
• Lack of Strategic Long-Term Thinking; this has led to the ‘silo effect’ where individual practices encourage individual service habits and culture, and generally leads to the dilemma, what is acceptable in one organisation may be unacceptable and irrelevant to clients in the facilities world
• Experience; reliance on this concept in the workplace has resulted in producing more predictable and reliable training for employees as well as developing employee expertise

Changing patterns of work are supported and enabled by behavioural and structural changes in the organisation. In contrast to the adage “one size fits all,” three types of workplace have emerged to accommodate these changes in a productive manner. Each of them supports both the personal and professional demands of the work force.

• Traditional: generally this type of organisation has a small number of people at the top of the chain of command, sharing the majority of power, while the rest of the work force is below them in organisational status and power. Typically, it is quite bureaucratic and hierarchical, and many firms still exist in this form today
• Team-based: this is a popular variation of the traditional workplace, but flatter and more organized. It is a type of structure that allows the organisation to become more creative. This, in turn, makes it more competitive and boosts employee morale
• Agile: this type of organization is a popular new phenomenon that encourages adaptation to new changes in the work force, workplace and the organization itself. It is comparable to a spider’s web, because it is flexible and can usually adjust in any direction. People are the main focus and at the heart of such organizations.

Opportunities

Some changing work and workplace concepts are beginning to offer new opportunities for, as well as threats to, the facilities management sector. Possibilities that the world of Facilities Management (FM) and workplace design should consider have been identified as follows:

• Create an office as an interpersonal meeting space
• Adopt the ‘can do’ approach
• Incorporate individual attitudes at a strategic decision-making level
• Identify the ability of flexible working to encourage positive lifestyle changes
• Understand the role of women in the workplace as a way of improving workplace efficiency
• Adopt the multi-sensorial approach, particularly smell, to improve conditions in workplaces
• Focus on labour mobility to recruit and retain the necessary key people
• Place social and fiscal pressure on organisations to reduce business travel
• Incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into an organisation as a catalyst for innovation and investment
• Facilitate the convergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to further expand the flexibility of workplaces
• Integrate design issues into change management
• Ensure continued growth in services
• ‘Trade through space’ to increase cash flow by enabling other smaller companies to use excess space
• Cultivate knowledge in a creative working environment which enables organisations to adapt to the expanding knowledge economy
• Appreciate diversity in the workplace because economies rely on international emigrants

Threats

Threats, conversely, that will hinder the Facilities Management and workplace design industries have been discovered to be:

• Business change occurring at an astounding rate, leaving the workplace behind
• Mobile working causing the industry to ask the question, Is the traditional workplace necessary?
• Corporate attitudes leading to a lack of flexibility and creativity
• Financial restrictions encouraging the attitude ‘can’t afford it and there are better things to do with it’, putting research and innovation on the back burner
• Quality of life being threatened as commuting issues such as inadequate transport infrastructure put a strain on the worker
• Global threats of conflict and terrorism
• Economic decline being set off by Chinese dominance
• Legacy and loyalty issues hindering the total replacement of existing workplaces
• The assumption that the business market core will remain in the North American and the European catchment areas
• Continued antiquated thinking concerning flexible working, rather than evolving thinking about the axiom that work is what you ‘do’ and not where you ‘go’
• Total standardisation of workplace solutions
• Increased taxes on scarce resources
• Lack of information, wisdom and judgements in a knowledge society being damaging to the workplace

Complex heterogeneous workplace environments that are crowded with a multitude of different desktop and portable PCs, mobile and wireless devices, printers, networks and applications, with little or no technical support from organizations which has proven difficult and costly for IT organizations to manage and support; fads and fashion threatening long-term strategic decision-making within organizations.

Background

This report offers an approach towards overcoming the continued resistance to change in the workplace. It is an era characterized by global economic boom, cutting edge technological inventions and the rising power of international brands. These factors are fuelling the competition for talent between organisations and changing the workplace. Workplace change and innovation has become critical to the future of organisations in a dynamic, economy-driven and knowledge-based society.

Managing this change, however, is a vital dimension underpinning successful transition – to new work styles, patterns and locations all within the aegis facilities management. Providers of physical and virtual workspaces need a clear understanding of the forces driving these changes and their impact, not only on individuals, but also on the organisations themselves.

To this end, the Futures Academy in the Dublin Institute of Technology has collaborated with Johnson Controls to produce this report. Its aims are to:

• Explore the changing context and nature of the workplace in the 21st century
• Identify the challenges faced by a global workplace solution
• Examine the current and emerging trends
• Build a roadmap for the future

As part of the process, The Futures Academy undertook in-depth background research. It analysed the data from survey questionnaires and held strategic discussions. In May 2007, a ‘Futures’ Workshop was held in conjunction with Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions to identify and discuss emerging concepts, challenges and uncertainties surrounding the workplace change debate.

To better understand the uncertainties, trends and interrelated forces influencing the shape and direction of the workplace, a creative approach was adopted. It is argued in this document and by the writers that a creative approach – in particular a “futures” approach – offers a broader insight into workplace prospects and generates a recognisable representation of what the future might hold.

At The Futures Academy, the creative approach of the “Prospective Through Scenarios” methodology has been advocated. This methodology has been developed to explore and inspire imaginative and shared thinking. It is a process that enables decision-makers to envision a preferred future for their organisations and prepares them for navigating uncertainty. It results in improved and more informed decisions.

Using scenario techniques enables us to expand our mental horizons. By developing a number of plausible scenarios, we can better understand and accept change. This will stimulate debate about the future move toward a common approach to change.

The scenarios will not work if they are seen as a gimmick. The scenarios show that, given the impossibility of knowing precisely how the future will play out, a good decision or strategy is one that plays out well across several possible futures.

The Scenarios

Scenario One:

This scenario assumes an unprecedented acceleration of economic growth, relentless pressure for short-term gains and fierce competition on a global scale, driven by rapid technological advances and further market integration. It is a world where entrepreneurship, innovation and individual responsibility are favoured. Give and take is keenly attuned to the opportunities of the moment and at the same time alert to ways of incorporating long term values into strategies for commercial success. Free market reforms have moved governments everywhere to downsize, deregulate and privatize.

The ‘global village’ of 2030 offers competitive market economies propelled by expanding globalisation, advances in business communication and rising literacy rates. Innovative incentive systems have been developed to get workers to work. A fair pricing system has been created to allocate properly the limited supply of resources and goods. Activities are increasingly traded across information highway networks. Consequently, E-business has exploded onto the scene with the development of advanced and innovative information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Companies adapted to this changing competitive world environment by becoming agile and responsive in their operations. This has had a knock on effect in the workplace. More employees now have the option of telecommunicating their work from the mobile office known as the ‘Club’. Home working offices on-line have become extensive. Knowledge workers have begun to choose where they live and work, and demand customized accommodation and facilities which is changing the dynamics of the house. International trade and investment has moved towards efficient, supportive and facilitative locations, changing the concept of facilities management. Corporations have been ebbing away from locations perceived by business as bureaucratic and synonymous with high costs.

From 2007, centralized ownership of resources and services became a thing of the past because it promoted inefficiency, corruption and nepotism. As a result of this, capitalism was seen as the contending force to be reckoned with, upon which privatisation and liberalisation of key markets, including technology, energy, air transport and financial services became increasingly popular. Regulations, intelligent laws, oversight and the inherent positive properties of the market, such as transparency, made the free market work. Since then, widespread availability of information has enabled free market entry to many new players. A new model of entrepreneurship has been developed on the back of the network economy. The ‘winner takes all’ attitude dominates markets.

By 2015, the exclusive focus on trade and investment leads to environmental degradation and social neglect. This can particularly be seen in the Asian region. Between 2007 and 2017, multinational corporations relocated to Asia as it became a new hub of industrial activity, driven by the availability of a rapidly increasing low wage labour force, unregulated environmental standards, negligible corporation tax rates and pliable political regimes.

Following this transformation, international businesses believe they cannot operate against the greater good for long as the global civic society becomes distrusting of multinationals who let environmental and social standards drop. Businesses seize the opportunity to take strategic economic advantage and become proactive leaders in responding to social and environmental change. In doing this, some cut back on business travel and equip their workplace facilities with state of the art electronic communication devices such as video conferencing and high-definition technology, which combine voice, video, content sharing and network infrastructure technologies to promote cost-effective remote collaboration within organisations and beyond.

After the market downturn of 2020, major companies re-evaluated themselves and ‘leaned out’ their entire organisation in an effort to become more efficient and more productive. They thinned their product lines, stopped their non-essential projects, reduced waste and inefficiencies in support functions, cut costs and started expecting more from their employees. Consequently, the global market for labour started to change in an unprecedented way. Temporary labour was no longer an incidental concern but a strategic opportunity. Also, radical outsourcing meant that the global division of work helped the global company attract local knowledge and a global talent pool. Eastern Europe, Asia and South America began to offer a wealth of business opportunities, and resources with a cheap and highly skilled work force.

The global trade union, One World, was established in 2025, because the individual became the dominating characteristic of the free market workplace as entrepreneurs and contingent workers grew in numbers. These workers had no sense of belonging. As a result of this, the workplace became a lonely and unsatisfying place because all the interactions in the market place were purely contractual. Social interactions were extremely limited, so the global trade union tackled this issue and focused on social networking, learning, reputation-building and income smoothing. It now provides a sense of identity for these workers.

Despite great improvements in the free market, the increasingly complex marketplace is characterized by its vulnerability to certain illicit activities. The huge volume of international trade has given rise to an environment that could promote the proliferation of dangerous goods, dual use items and slave labour. It seems that opportunities are only presented to those who have access to all that is offered from the global market, exacerbating the gap between rich and poor.

Europe has become a strong cut-throat trading bloc. The European economies have become more competitive and flexible. European businesses compete for high-value products and services, the best and brightest minds and managerial talent. However, due to mass consumerism throughout the EU, its societies are becoming fragmented more than ever, and political unification has been placed on the back-burner.

The following major trends characterize the Jazz workplace and are listed as:

• Networks become the workplace, where most of the tasks are performed by independent teams, which separate once the work is completed
• The internet generation makes up the bulk of the work force
• The workplace is an agile and adaptable work ecosystem that supports work anywhere, anytime and anyway
• The use of facilities beyond normal working hours has become popular
• The smart house has become the new office as greater interconnectivity between home, car and office becomes available
• Smart agents and documents that “take action” on behalf of the worker have been developed for reducing/eliminating low-value work
• The workplace has become more than an office. Increased remote working has led workers to use “Starbucks” type workspaces as well as new workspace community centres
• Organizational culture has become extremely difficult to maintain as social isolation becomes increasingly apparent through the increase in remote working

Workspace design has adopted a public presence through the use of shared and mixed use space in the public domain.

Scenario Two: Wise Counsels

This scenario assumes global economic stability and an effort to attain environmental balance and social progress. Institutional improvements worldwide facilitate sustainable development. It is a world where collective, collaborative and consensual action is favoured. Negotiation is the name of the game and policy making and decision making has become increasingly delegated and expert. Knowledge has become the key resource. The most important property is now intellectual property, not physical property. It is the hearts and minds of people, rather than traditional labour that are essential to growth and prosperity.

It is a secure world in 2030, a shared responsibility. The greatest competition is being fought in the global arena of ideas, learning and innovation. Development has become the first line of defence for a collective eco-social, economic, security system that takes prevention seriously. Ecological modernisation has topped the agenda of most nation states, where the ‘greening’ of markets is achieved using taxes, incentives and better information to account for the environmental costs of development activity, so encouraging technological innovation to improve resource efficiency and decouple economic growth from environmental degradation and social decay.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, there were a number of signs that environmental and social crises loomed. The exponential growth of the ‘Chindian’ economies was placing a huge burden on local environments. Global public health systems were deteriorating and were ill-equipped to protect nations from existing and emerging deadly infectious diseases such as the bird flu pandemic. Sustained poverty in a number of poorer nations was fuelling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and organized crime. European and North American economies were slowing down as the baby boom generation retired placing a severe strain on social expenditure and healthcare systems.

The perceived need for strong and positive actions led to a new global consensus that welcomed technological solutions, sanctions and more direct control of the market, to ensure that environmental values and social cohesion were preserved. A role for big thinkers, power players and those with deep pockets emerged to help fix this problem. In response to this, the World Summit on Corporate Accountability was held in Geneva in 2015. From the convergence of ideas and negotiations, a new international framework treaty was established for the global application of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.

This summit was attended by more heads of state than any other previous conference and led directly to the development of a number of international conventions, statements and national and international policies. The Global Reform Council (GRC) became the enforcer of these policies, while working closely with the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. The GRC strengthened union engagement with governments, employers and the wider community by promoting sustainable development initiatives and ensuring people were able to adjust to these changes. Finally, international monetary, financial, trade, development and environmental policies were being managed by an independent body that aligned free market forces and private enterprise with social and environmental goals, by focusing on the need for deliberate social choices and meeting basic human needs.

The effective creation, use and dissemination of knowledge became keys to this success. The success of enterprises, and of national economies, became increasingly dependent on the information infrastructure that gathers and utilizes knowledge. By 2020, cities, communities and organisations, particularly in Europe and Asia, began to harness the knowledge economy and society with the development of advanced ‘univer-cities’ and ’employee villages’. Focus was now being placed on life-long and life-wide learning; rather than unruly economic expansion.

The univer-city is a remarkable development offering opportunities to live and learn in healthy well-designed communities. It has become the showcase for innovative and creative approaches to equitable education, work, connectivity and sustainable planning. The role of the facility manager has grown within this city. Facilities have been consolidated to provide value added services to all sectors, government, health, education, recreation, justice, police, and social services. Shopping and recreational areas have been transformed to give people access to real-time data and sophisticated, accessible facilities. A smart card called the ‘community card’ has been developed for general services in the city, notably transport, access to sports facilities, the library and laundry facilities, as well as providing a wireless connection.

From these cities, workers at all levels in this 21st century knowledge society have become lifelong learners, adapting continuously to changed opportunities, work practices, business models and other forms of economic and social organisation. As a way to harness this, the corporate world is cultivating the employee village. These villages focus on a greater mixture of land use types; integrate biodiversity plans in design; promote transit supportive development; preserve open space, facilitate a more economic arrangement of land uses; and encourage a greater sense of community. Such workplaces are healthier, more productive and allow people work to live rather than living to work.

This new approach to knowledge and workplace development is driven by a primary need to think globally and act locally in the preservation and conservation of the environment, development of the economy, social cohesion, equity and quality of life.

For Europe, positive dramatic changes occurred in these areas from 2010 — 2025. The public sector became a guiding light assisting individuals, firms and civic associations undertake their share of responsibility for the community and environment by incorporating the values of sustainable development, corporate social responsibility and shared responsibility into their goals and objectives. Finance for research, development and innovation increased enormously. In 2007, the EU was behind the U.S. and Japan in research and innovation performance. EU Heads of State agreed a target to increase its R&D performance to 3 percent of GDP by 2012, overtaking both Japan and the US, with two-thirds of the increase coming from business. Job creation and economic growth was fuelled by the successful achievement of this goal. It created a knowledge driven competitive advantage across all sectors of the integrated economy, particularly areas such as health, education and the environment.

The following ten major trends are characteristics of the Wise Counsels workplace and are listed as follows:

• The workplace is increasingly supported by ICTs, meaning workers can be virtually and directly connected with community peers and have access to whatever knowledge or expertise they need to carry out their tasks
• The digital company card has emerged as a popular tool that encourages workers to go into local communities and check into office space
• Workplaces are seen as communities that are propelling the shift from hierarchical management structures towards self-organized, self managed teams that are stimulated and motivated to ensure a much higher level of work while giving them more flexibility to balance work and life, demonstrating a shift of power from the employer to the employee
• Trust and confidence amongst workers is promoted in this workplace as employees design their own workplace, set their own hours, share all information and have no secrets, this also stimulates creative thinking
• The facilities manager is becoming competent in managing complex organisations that are very like hotels, in order to provide good services to improve quality of life and work
• Knowledge workers have equitable access to services and facilities
• Governments reform labour market and social welfare systems as education and knowledge management become the key drivers in the 21st century
• Transport issues are addressed as corporate offices become environmentally responsible by providing bike racks and shower facilities for employees
• Collaboration between suppliers, international customers, local government and NGOs has become the key to improving social and environmental conditions in the workspace and the corporate world

Social activities improve within the workplace as common spaces become more popular and workers are encouraged to discuss various subjects and projects. They can join in discussions about issues and opportunities for a few minutes in order to relax and get to know other workers. It builds trust and confidence among workers and stimulates creative thinking as well.

Scenario Three: Dantesque

This scenario assumes global economic stagnation, cultural difference and insecurity. Emphasis on distrust, retrenchment and reaction leads to widespread social unrest, conflict and environmental degradation. Instability is rife across the globe as regions become increasingly disjointed from each other. Racism is on the rise and ‘each to their own’ is the attitude that dominates this world.

It is a fragmented world in 2030. Economic growth remains concentrated in prosperous areas, while poverty and frustration leaves the majority of nations feeling isolated and ignored. The rising tide of wealth is occurring in a small number of nations while the growing concentration of this wealth is in relatively few hands. Consequently, the gap between high and low income countries has intensified and continues to persist and widen. It is driven by high unemployment, declining physical infrastructures and corrupt governance structures in developing areas.

There is mass migration towards rich regions in an effort to find a better life as well as an increase of illegal immigrants across borders. This system of inequitable and immoral capitalism presents a tight-fisted callousness towards minority groups, while the poor and illegal immigrants become scapegoats as is evident in the growing number of sweatshops across Asia, Africa and parts of South America.

There is a rise in healthcare problems and a great concern about the potential for plagues as outbreaks of virulent mutations of malaria occur in fetid slums in 2013. These spread across the borders of rich regions placing severe pressure on the health care systems which are not sustainable at this time of need.

National security and foreign policy become matters of urgency. The spread of transnational crime increases. Terrorists use organized criminal groups to move money, men and materials around the globe. Countries and rebels continue to sell natural resources to finance wars. Governments’ capacity to establish the rule of law is weakened by corruption.

Following the devastation caused by terrorist attacks in 2017, which left 5,000 civilians dead, the agricultural sector and supply chain networks were left in chaos. The terrorists not only attacked the physical infrastructure of major EU and US cities but launched an attack on the food chain. Fear intensified across these regions. Governments, politicians and businesses fuelled and capitalized on this fear and anxiety. Areas such as the insurance industry, those parts of the real estate industry that source gated communities, facilities management and the CCTV industry are the commercial enterprises that begin to make a profit on fear.

From this fear, and the increase of ‘ghetto-ization,’ the popularity of gated communities increased. By 2020, a socio-economic divide has appeared between those who can and those who cannot afford to live in gated communities. Subsequently, these communities become known as exclusionary, elitist and anti-social. Access is controlled by gates, entry codes, key cards and security guards, serviced with CCTV tracking. This has caused anger and resentment in the outside world while exacerbating social exclusion. Cultural differences, inward-looking attitudes and anti-immigrant sentiment have intensified, causing racism to amplify.

As a result of this, environmental issues are left on the back-burner even following the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, and the signing of the ‘Montreal Agreement’ in 2012 relating to water conservation. These policies are ignored as natural resources are stretched and peak oil finally occurs. By 2023, the dark predictions of climate change are much nearer to the truth than the optimistic ones.

The effects of these crises begin to ‘trickle down’ into commercial and industrial sectors. Now, in the corporate world, widespread insecurity over jobs and pay continues, where employees are running scared, striving to compete in a global labour market. It is becoming a jobless future based on trends at the beginning the 21st century. Rising unemployment coupled with revolutionary technological change have fostered workplaces to down-size and re-engineer, with part-time jobs, temporary jobs and job-sharing replacing full- time work.

In 2015, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was axed. It would have restored worker’s rights to join unions across rich regions, the United States and the European Union, allowing workers to bargain for higher wages. Instead, workers faced an increasing risk of being fired for playing an active role in trying to join or promote trade unions. It placed greater power in the hands of the corporate machine in America and the EU. These megalomaniac corporations had great influence upon their respective governments to allow a crisis of such controversy to unfold like this.

Subsequently, corrupt governments and capitalist conservatism opposed legislation raising the minimum wage and increasing social security benefits, while proposing ways of cutting employment, using severe measures, in a bid to stimulate recruitment and reduce labour costs. As the global economy went into recession in 2020, these measures were met with widespread social upheaval and violent clashes across many countries.

Following these clashes, people began to socially isolate themselves and move away from public life, adopting a more individual approach to daily life as a result of a lack of faith in collective organisations and actions. Consequently, the house became more of a home, so to speak. It provided a basis for home working, with new advanced technological capabilities, as well as a safe haven from the violence and fear in the outside world. It also provided an integrated system for entertainment and social interaction.

Europe is unstable as its citizens exhibit a fearful view of the world beyond their borders and an anxiety about what the future holds for them. By 2030, political fragmentation is ever present as economic growth is slow and the rewards are unequally distributed. Nation states are strengthening individually as a coherent collaborative foreign and security policy falls by the wayside. ‘Thirst wars’ begin in central and eastern European countries, and the survival of the fittest prevails.

The following trends are characteristics of the Dantesque workplace and are listed as follows:

• Workplace democracy decreases and hierarchical structures increase in workplaces across the globe as corporations maintain full control in an effort to protect themselves and increase profits
• Environmental health hazards that have been found to affect the health of the general population are being detected more and more in the workplace environment and in the working population as workplace health and safety policies are not heeded
• Weak employment policies across corporations and nations lead to high unemployment rates and social unrest which endanger stable and sustainable social development
• Undemocratic workplaces put making profits first, while putting the interest of the worker last. This has led to a lack of job security, minimum wages, average benefits, no training, and nominal bargaining power
• In 2007, there was an excess of highly trained workers, but as the baby boom generation retired, that trend was reversed by decreasing labour force growth and rising illiteracy rates
• Most knowledge workers are still working in outdated physical environments which promote hierarchy and status with space and walls
• The facilities management sector continues to struggle to support employees working from home, as a seamless support service has not been developed by facilities managers
• The internet has become affected by a number of debilitating viruses which has left employees unable to work as business continuity plans have not been designed for these attacks
• Lack of worker’s loyalty leaves corporate goals to the wayside
• Lack of environmental quality has severely devalued office buildings

A Workplace Prospective

In an ideal world, what would the future workplace look like?

Following the adage: “the future is not inevitable, we can influence it if we know what we want it to be,” a number of ideas, thoughts and characteristics of a preferred future vision for the workplace have been identified. Respondents to a survey questionnaire and participants in the Futures Workshop recognized them and they are listed as follows:

• Every home and office will be equipped with video-conferencing capability
• Regional meeting places will be developed to enable social interaction
• The house will become both the home and the workplace; improving quality of life
• New and improved street-scape office designs will incorporate cafes, shops, offices, lounges and the availability of live information
• Metaphorically, the workplace will be located on a Caribbean beach as remote working becomes widely accepted
• There will be fewer large and more distributed facilities that will have less reliance on active systems
• People will be able to choose when, where and how they want to work
• The workspace will be shaped by its users with management, facilities management and real estate
• Workspaces will be adapted to suit a wide range of threats and opportunities
• Increasing cultural references, further branding and information content will be placed within the workplace
• Every person will be treated equally when it comes to getting a job, advancing in their career, and being treated fairly in the workplace
• Responsibilities relating to IT or telecoms servicing will increase as the remote worker becomes increasingly popular and the traditional office becomes a thing of the past; and,
• Workplaces will depend on renewable energies

However, the challenges facing the facilities management industry today, that would make it difficult to achieve this workplace prospective, are most obviously:

• Positioning and response of the workers to behavioural change
• Adapting to the global variation of workplace locations
• Supporting a globally fragmented client and user base with greater individuality of needs and services
• Initiating cultural change within a profession to expand the remit of the facilities management (FM) discipline in order to become community inclusive
• Promoting dialogue across corporate departments
• Aligning FM and strategic visions
• Defining the nature of facilities management for the future
• Balancing the dynamics between command and control vs. individualism
• Integrating education, research and best practice into the FM sector
• Incorporating innovation and development within service activities
• Facilities managers actively listening and entering into dialogue with users instead of blindly obeying the corporate machine
• Aligning migration patterns, the changing market and the work force
• Imposing legislative restrictions on extensive commuting and business travel
• Expanding thinking, for example, to network environments
• Exploring how the extended workplace promotes and supports creativity

Moving Forward

In order to accomplish goals and objectives of the organization, challenges and threats must be overcome. In doing so, organizations must mobilize joint actions towards their specific prospective. Consequently, policy fields and action agendas are considered briefly here (see Figure 1).

The scenario logics are based around four parameters:

• A high economic growth
• A low economic growth
• A focus on collaboration
• A focus on Competition — a competitive advantage

Jazz will occur in a very dynamic market controlled by a large number of entrepreneurs — a high competitive environment, made of entrepreneurs, and a high economic growth, where the market is buoyant. Jazz is driven by the power of the network society we currently see emerging with the exponential rise of the cyber world.

Wise Counsels is more where the workplace supports teams of knowledge workers creating communities. The workplace is a community. Wise Counsels focused towards a knowledge economy and is one of the most likely scenarios. It will appear in an environment where employees still rely on the concept of corporation to support their work.

Dantesque is much more conservative in its framework and in a low economic growth environment, where the increasing threats of terrorism, healthcare problems and corporate attacks drove corporation in ghettos and isolation.

We are destined to work in different working environment as we know them today. We have been talking about the death of the office for more than a decade, but it is still there and very much in the form and shape we have known it since the post war. But what we see emerging are opportunities to create different working environment, mainly driven by our new ways of working. A mixture of Jazz, Dantesque and Wise Counsels is probably the most likely answer. With new ways of working and new workplace environments, people will need to change their behavior and learn to work and communicate differently. Corporation will need to change their culture and values. Relationships with colleagues can only be better, as employee chose to meet their colleagues when it is necessary and are not forced to work at the same office location every day.

The sense of community (either open in Jazz and Wise Counsels or close in Dantesque) is strong in each scenario, because it is essential. There is one thing which we will never be able to replace and live without: speech and human interaction. Whether it is face to face or virtual, people have a need to come together and get together.

About the Author

Marie Puybaraud, PhD, PGCert, BSc (Hons), MBIFM, is Director Global WorkPlace Innovation for Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions. Puybaraud joined Johnson Controls in 2004 but managed the Johnson Controls R&D Program since 2002. Puybaraud now manages the R&D program in innovation in facilities management & real estate and workplace, leading around 15 annual projects to successful completion and disseminating all the findings both internally across the global business and externally through marketing and communications.