Offices will probably disappear and instead mini business centres could spring up near satellite offices. Increasingly people will work from home as organisations cut down their overheads on office space and use remote locations as the new-age workplace.
These communities will build up around 'streetscapes' with services for workers such as hairdressers and cafés. Workers will only come to the office to collaborate. Better technology infrastructure will make distributed working easier. All of this will have a positive impact on health and stress levels.
According to Howard Grosvenor, managing consultant at people performance specialist SHL, changes in the wider context of work will have a great impact on the worker of the future. UK employees will need to be flexible enough to continually work across time zones, languages and cultures.
With this new-age worker in mind, many employers are now considering remote working and working from home as viable options in their recruitment drive.
Recruitment websites, including Remote Employment and BCSRecruit.com, will come to the fore and take the lead in recruiting tomorrow's workers. Currently, around 3.1 million people usually or regularly work from home and this is likely to double in the near future.
Ken Sheridan, managing director of Remote Employment, believes the recent emergence of virtual jobs and virtual communities is changing the way companies attract and retain skilled employees. Smarter organisations reduce employment costs by adopting remote working as a regular employment solution.
Remote Employment is an online web service specialising in remote working, work from home positions and home based appointments. They promote work-life balance with employment solutions such as flexible working, remote working, mobile working and working from home. Adopting this modern day approach to our working lives increases business productivity and competitiveness, reduces transport congestion and pollution, improves health, assists disadvantaged groups and harmonises our work and family commitments.
Sheridan adds: 'The new-age worker's green agenda will increase home working, which will make it much easier for families to combine work and caring responsibilities. Flexible working at senior levels will be more acceptable, which will encourage more men, particularly in younger age groups, to ask for flexible arrangements enabling them to participate more fully in family life at no cost to their career ambitions.
'Remote Employment hopes thousands of companies and organisations will follow the new-age worker by implementing flexible working practices to the benefit of their business, their employees, and the country as a whole.'
David Harvey, product manager of BCSrecruit.com said, 'The trend towards home working is not showing any signs of abating. We believe that working from home is a lifestyle choice that many employers will increasingly need to bear in mind when recruiting those with in-demand skills. If they don't take heed of this growing trend towards flexible home working, they may well find that valued employees move with their feet to companies who do, taking advantage of online recruitment opportunities.'
