The design and management of workplaces correlates positively with productivity, creativity and engagement of those who work in them. What smart solutions can help employees’ increased productivity? We have investigated the question a bit.
Digital transformation of workplaces is actually not really about IT. It’s about people. This is the point where company culture comes in.
The effect of workplace satisfaction on employee engagement
Many examples show that the stronger the digital culture of a company is, the lower the percentage of employees who feel unsatisfied or unproductive, and lacking innovativeness. Simple as it may seem: employees who are most happy with their workplace are also the most engaged. These are employees who come to work energized, ready to come up with new ideas, create new strategies and make meaningful progress each day.
Popular smart office features
Among employees, the most preferred smart office features are self-adjusting lighting and window shades; personalised heat and light settings that follow you around the building; circadian lighting systems that mimic natural daylight; and heating/lighting systems that adjust automatically according to weather and occupancy. Managers, however are rather keen on having an app for booking desks and meeting rooms; meeting rooms where screens work seamlessly with personal devices; and desk or room sensors that track usage for efficiency monitoring.
Intelligent workplaces
The future of smart offices, however, is a broader vision of “smart interaction” of IoT devices and intelligent building management systems. Digital experts expect that in a couple of years the smart devices and wearables that people bring to work will no longer be in search of a smart building to interact with. The building itself together with all that wearables and gadgets will be part of one smart system.
So, it seems it is already high time for designing the progressive smart office of yours, if you still do not have it. But we would like to assure those who are not that keen on this digital revolution: humans will still be at the center of work, even as intelligent software and machines become our co-workers.
