This year’s WORKTECH23 Chicago conference brought together a stellar group of speakers and panelists to discuss the future of work and the workplace. Over 100 attendees gathered at EY’s wavespace™ in Fulton Market to share stories and strategies for maximizing the workplace experience.
Modo’s VP of Strategy and Partnerships, Andy Umans, shared the stage with Brian McCourt, Smart Building Consultant at Cisco, and David Music, Corporate Real Estate Strategy specialist at WTW, to weigh in on technologies reshaping the way we work.
Getting Employees Back to the Office Requires a Better In-Office Experience
A recurring theme throughout the conference was how to address the disconnect between leadership and employees regarding working in the office. Many companies have found that creating workspaces to meet the needs of employees is a powerful piece to enticing workers back to the office. This can take many forms, such as redesigning the office, hosting in-office activities, and expanding building amenities.
Workplace apps, like Modo Workplace, can play a significant role in helping companies promote and make those resources as accessible as possible. Functionality, such as room booking, digital badging, help desk support, and collaboration tools, can be easily integrated into a custom workplace app, giving employees frictionless access to helpful tools. Additionally, companies are creating personalized experiences in their workplace apps to advertise in-person events and activities and socialize event photos to stimulate FOMO (fear of missing out).
Technology is also helping companies support many different in-office work styles and needs. One employee can have differing needs throughout the week, e.g., quiet space for individual work, a small group setting with a whiteboard for team collaboration, and a large conference room for a presentation or weekly staff meeting. Understanding those needs is key to redesigning the workplace.
The proliferation of occupancy sensors, security cameras, and people counting based on Wi-Fi data makes it easier to gather large data sets for data-driven decisions. For example, they optimize space utilization based on the number of people coming to the office and the different types of spaces and equipment used.
While translating the existence of data into insights remains a significant challenge, building the right datasets could go further to improve the user experience. According to McCourt, the idea of a building being contextually aware–the lighting, temperature, and shades adjust to a person’s personal preferences when they walk into a room–could be the future,
“So it’s the building being more context-aware. I think that’s where the big opportunity is.”
–Brian McCourt, Smart Building Consultant, Cisco
Making Data-Driven Decisions in Office Design
The panel discussed data and its role in helping make informed decisions, particularly around office design strategies. For example, by analyzing space optimization data, organizations can customize their offices according to employee needs, ultimately enhancing both productivity levels and overall job satisfaction among hybrid workforce members.
This approach creates an adaptable workplace where collaboration zones coexist with individual quiet zones seamlessly due to strategic planning based on concrete evidence rather than mere assumptions or traditional principles alone. Companies might consider repurposing these seldom-used spaces accordingly if sensors detect low traffic around certain meeting rooms but high demand for quiet areas conducive to focused tasks or remote work scenarios.
Cisco has used its data to make better decisions about its real estate portfolio. In early 2000, the company had 28 million square feet of office space. Based on data, they reduced their space to 18 million square feet just before the pandemic, and today, they plan to consolidate another 30% of office space.
Beyond this, detailed analysis can also identify issues or potential bottlenecks within the workspace layout – perhaps there’s consistent congestion near specific desks during peak hours? These valuable insights enable proactive measures like redistributing resources or adjusting layouts that improve workflow efficiency while fostering a more engaging company culture.
McCourt shared that data revealed a consistently unused conference room in the NY office. A physical room check found an HVAC problem, which made the room too warm, but no one bothered to report the problem.
Furthermore, he has found that conference room use has grown since COVID. Meetings are now 2-3 hours on average compared to 30 minutes to one hour pre-COVID–a change that has influenced Cisco’s office designs.
Rethinking Data Models
Today, companies have more data than ever, and pre-pandemic models are no longer valid. WTW’s Music contends that work models and employee preferences are still shifting, so some guesswork is needed when deciding what to do next. Questions such as how many colleagues will return to the office and, if a return to office mandate is set, how will that affect occupancy, are difficult to answer.
“We’re really being cautious around what the data means, and do we actually have confidence in that data yet, or is it still just indicative and anecdotal.”
–David Music, Corporate Real Estate Strategy, WTW
For WTW, Music’s goal is to have desks available for 95% or more of employees who come to the office. For him, it’s essential to understand actual desk occupancy, which tends to be 10-15% less than badge swipes. Additionally, employees still habitually claim a desk when they come into the office, even if they don’t use it. This may shift over time as they recognize that collaboration spaces are all they need, further influencing office design.
Technology and the Workplace of Tomorrow
When adding new technologies to enhance the workplace, panelists agreed that IT should be involved early in the design process as they know what data is available to help inform technology decisions.
“There’s a lot of data off your IT stack you’re probably not even aware of.”
–Brian McCourt, Smart Building Consultant, Cisco
Additionally, while Real Estate may be driving these technology investments, you need more stakeholders engaged to get the most out of these investments. IT and Finance are important partners, as are HR, Corporate Communications, and Marketing, when investing in a workplace app. While it may require a fair amount of education to help these constituents understand the importance of these technologies, it is worth taking the time to do so.
Finally, the introduction of AI within emerging technologies promises to support several initiatives, from space optimization to energy management to office collaboration.
The workplace of tomorrow looks exciting indeed!