INTOUCH : Space, people & technology

How the three are fitted together has lot to do with creating workplaces that enable people to do their jobs better, in way that suits both their work needs and lifestyles. But is it happening?
Not as much as it could, according to Neil Salton, the managing director of UK-based Go Cordless and speaker at the recent Auckland conference on “Leading Sustainable Business Through Corporate Real Estate”.
“I don’t think technology is changing organisational structures as much as it could and part of that is the lack of integration between the worlds of property and technology – each of which has its own vocabulary and clock speed. Add into that the challenge of getting HR teams engaged in the whole process of creating new space and you have three worlds not talking to each and therefore not taking advantage of what each respective discipline could offer the other.”
If they did, it could greatly improve the lot of those millions of people around the world who are increasingly working longer hours – and help change how they feel about their work, says Salton.
“Work is process and should not be determined by place. Ten years ago if you asked me where I worked, I’d have pointed to building. Now I’d point to laptop or cellphone.
Workplaces must also cater for generations that have grown up with new technology and are used to sharing and collaborating in more informal manner. Social networking, for example.
“If Myspace was country it would by the 11th largest in the world between Japan and Mexico with 110 million active users per month. So we’re looking at generation who are instinctive users – and we need physical spaces that allow higher degree of flexibility in working patterns to attract and retain them,” says Salton.
Such flexibility does require shift in management thinking away from ‘presenteeism’ to trust. But another factor pushing this shift is greater awareness of individual and corporate carbon footprints.
“Can we be little bit smarter about choosing if we do need to go to this container called an office which doesn’t serve us particularly well,” asks Salton. “Frankly, the greenest building is the one you actually don’t build so if you are better informed as to how your physical space is being used by whom and for what, then it can obviate the need to build at all.”
His company works with organisations to optimise people’s use of space and technology.
“It’s about helping people know what it feels like to be in this different kind of space using different kinds of tools and it can’t be top-down thing.