Moving and management

Look to the future

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The process of change in the office environment is continuous. Although have just completed an office move or refurbishment, during its implementation it is certain that you needed to alter plans as your needs changed. Now that the project is complete you will need adapt it as your business continues to develop. The first step is to assess how your new environment performs for your organisation.

Evaluation
You need to gather information from staff, customers and suppliers about your new environment. This can be through a variety of media, from an Intranet survey of staff to a simple questionnaire at your reception desk for visitors. Be prepared to hear positive and negative comment and act, wherever possible on the findings.

Real estate strategy
This activity should be the responsibility of one of your senior members of staff. Keeping an eye on developments in the business and the way it affects your offices is a constant process. Flexibility is paramount, and a good real estate strategy should cater for change, both foreseen and unforeseen. Many organisations leave their decisions on real estate far too late, leading to a state of permanent “fire-fighting”. Whoever is responsible for real estate strategy will need constant input from Human Resources and IT departments to make sure that current and future staffing levels and computing needs are to be met.

The Future of the Workplace
Information technologists would have us believe that there is no future for offices. Theoretically, most work done currently in offices could be done remotely, from home, for instance. This is looking purely at the practical issues of technology. Far more important is the sociological importance of the office. Humans are gregarious, and like to interact with each other. Offices provide a social function, where friendships and relationships are made, both within the context of business and outside and some people go to work simply to get away from an unhappy home life.

Another important function of the office is as an ideas exchange. Whereas some work is entirely process-based, much more is about new ideas. Here, there is no doubt that teamwork is indispensable. The best ideas are found, not only in structured team environments, such as brainstorming meetings, but also in chance meetings. These chance meetings at the water cooler, coffee point or just passing in the corridor play a vital part of the generation of ideas.

One major forecasting company predicted that by the year 2000 the majority of work would be done away from the traditional office. This was based on the functional aspects of work, not sociology. This prediction has failed to be realised. Offices will certainly perform an ever-changing role for business, and may not be the only working environment provided, but they will continue to be the mainstay of the corporate culture of business for the foreseeable future.