A report is authored by The Future Laboratory and elicits the views 1,000 British workers plus commentary from ten key organisations including the CIPD, Eversheds and King’s College London, looks at new trends that will emerge in workplaces over the next ten-15 years.
Highlight findings include: British business face costs of between £29bn and £101bn if they fail to get to grips with this changing workplace; For a 100-strong company, these hiring costs and the impact on productivity equate to between £643,000 and £2.2m; British workers face stress and burnout if businesses do not adapt to changing work environment; The top two trends that employees want to see in the future are: The Ageless workplace: a workplace which allows ‘returnment’ instead of retirement and sees workers’ energised to continue to work until a later age because they want to, rather than have to. The Mindful workplace: a workplace which nurtures mental health and encourages workers to turn away from their busy hyper-connected, digital lifestyles.
Predictions for the future workplace include: Tech-free timeouts -areas of the workplace without technology to encourage workers to move away from desks to boost creativity and face-to-face communication. Meditation pods – zoned off office space dedicated to relaxing, meditation and naps; Responsive work environments – office space where desks move around, lights change and meetings are set up – all in reaction to workers’ needs. Office neighbourhoods – taking inspiration from neighbourhoods and city communities, employers will reconfigure their workplace so it’s more like a city. So having things like shops, cafes and restaurants pop up in the office to create neighbourhoods and increase collaboration between workers Brain training – An area of the workplace dedicated to regular activities that exercise the brain to stave off dementia and degenerative disease.
