The Workspace of Tomorrow

The workspace of tomorrow is “a modern work environment that supports an agency’s current and future business requirements and the realities of today’s evolving workforce in a cost-effective manner.”

How do we measure the success of this initiative? By focusing on changing the perspective of “how and where” work is done, instead of “what” is done. Washington is preparing itself for a large number of federal employees set to retire soon. This will require a higher than normal influx of new hires which means training and setting new infrastructures into place among other things. A challenge associated with this new model means learning to accommodate a generational workforce that has new realities and expectations concerning the workspace. An opportunity has been created where these new hires can be introduced to a flexible and mobile workspace in the most cost effective manner.

A successful workspace of tomorrow should demonstrate the following outcomes:

• An increase in employee productivity through using new and more efficient technology to meet business demands
• Smarter technology investments that outfit the modern worker and allow for changes in scalability
• A reduction in real estate costs through increased mobility
• A new work environment culture that encourages employees to share workspaces

Business objectives and missions don’t have to change due to integrating a workplace on demand system. What the workspace of tomorrow initiative does is place emphasis more on where work is done instead of what is done. The “what” never changes – only the “where”.

Next week we will discuss how companies implement this new system using three essential components:

• workforce (employees)
• technology (voice/data infrastructure)
• workspace (physical space)