Cubicles, open design, work perks—there are lots of things to consider in an office space, and they all play a huge role in how employees work and the culture of a company. This week we discussed what office spaces will look like in the future and how many organizations are already taking steps to make their spaces more modern. […]
Many people today hate cubicles and see them as an outdated part of the office that confines and traps employees. But the history of the cubicle is quite interesting. Watch the new video here. […]
Is your organization using it? What exactly is activity based working? Activity based work is work that is focused on the activity that you are doing. What does that mean, well we work in many ways and usually in a couple of environments. On average we can perform up to 21 different activities on any given work day and many of us are performing these tasks within a cubical or open floor plan. So we are working in one designed workspace to perform 21 different activities which doesn’t make much sense. Activity based working is where the focus is on the activity you are trying to complete. In other words, you work within a space designed for a particular activity and only that one activity. So you would have a different space to hold conferences, another space to collaborate with co-workers, another space for quiet contemplation and so forth. […]
Several interesting conversations arose at the recent Future of Work Forum in Chicago during breaks. One in particular was around office design. We were discussing the office designs of organizations like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn when an attendee brought up the point that their company doesn’t have millions of dollars to spend on office design. They can’t afford slides and expensive renovations. Another attendee said it doesn’t have to cost a fortune! In many cases, there really is no need to hire an architecture firm. That can even be a waste of money as a firm would be trying to design an office space that they don’t work in, for a culture they likely don’t understand. […]
In this episode of The Future of Work Show Jacob goes inside the offices of Udemy, which is revolutionizing the education and learning space by allowing anyone to teach and learn almost anything. Udemy has beautiful offices located in downtown San Francisco, which feature a multitude of various spaces that employees can work in. I interview a few of their employees, tour their offices, and of course speak with their CEO to find out what Udemy thinks about the future of work. We explore everything from the future of learning and education to millennials in the workplace to the freelancer economy and the role of technology in shaping how the workplace is changing. Tune in and enjoy! […]
This episode of The Future in Five I talk about open office spaces. There have been quite a few articles written recently around open office spaces and why we need to get rid of them, why they’re bad for engagement, why they’re bad for productivity, and on and on why they are so bad for organizations. In this episode I discuss what I think we should focus on. Tune in for the full discussion and let me know what you think!
Looking back a decade or so ago it was absolutely essential to have an office, or more likely, a cubicle.