The fast-changing shape of the workplace

The world around us is changing rapidly, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. While the rest of the globe is battling second and third waves of infectious numbers, in Australia and New Zealand many of us are returning to work with an entirely new outlook on the physical workplaces we inhabit each day.

As we re-examine every aspect of our daily lives, organisations are being forced to reconsider the status quo of the traditional workplace. How should senior leaders be planning their workplace in light of what they now know about the world around us?

The inevitability of disruption 

Few would have predicted the disruption we’ve seen in 2020 (aside from some virologists), but it illustrates the fragility of the environment in which our organisations operate. Although it’s grim to spend our time thinking about it, we face the possibility of major disruptions every day — whether from natural disasters, cyberattacks, terrorist attacks, and now airborne illnesses.

When these disruptions are inevitable there is questionable wisdom in relying on one physical workplace for your organisation’s daily operations. As a result, short-term leases of office space, commonly for one to five years, will climb from around five per cent of all commercial leases to more than 30 per cent by 2030 as fewer organisations want to commit themselves long-term to a large office space. 

Shared workspaces equals shared airspace

Agile project teams have become the new unit of measure for innovative organisations who want to quickly get new products and services off the ground. The need for collaborative and flexible workspaces had led to unbridled enthusiasm for agile spaces where different teams and individuals could move freely in and out of — until 2020 arrived. 

With COVID-19 infection rates still spiralling out of control around the world, there is obvious concern about the requirement to be in the same physical space with others if we don’t have to. Unsurprisingly, many large organisations across Australia and New Zealand have now abandoned hot desking and shared workspaces, instead moving back to fixed and designated workspaces for the foreseeable future.

The work-from-anywhere hybrid workforce 

Although a significant portion of the workforce across Australia and New Zealand has resumed business as usual and returned to their daily commute, employees of some large multinationals are continuing to work from home due to global company-wide policies. In many organisations, employees are embracing a hybrid model in which they work from home one or more days each week.

While this seems like a relatively simple model to adopt, several businesses were caught short during short-notice restrictions with inadequate or unsecure devices for employees to work from home with. Now that many employees are moving between their home and the office more regularly there are also concerns about the health and safety of environments in each location. 

Datacom has been helping organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand to adapt to the events of 2020 and the new needs of a hybrid workforce. Through our partnership with HP, we offer purpose-built devices for on-the-go use that allow your teams to move seamlessly and securely between each working environment. 

Combining the right devices with Datacom’s range of flexible cloud solutions and managed IT services is the ideal way to create the agility you need for supporting a hybrid workforce. Contact us today to discuss the solutions your organisation needs for powering a hybrid workforce into the future.