November 22, 2013
Latest Insight newsletter is now available to view online
In the weekly Insight newsletter, available to view online; an inspirational morning spent in the company of Charles Handy at the recent Worktech 13 London conference; a gallery of images [pictured] from Apple’s new $5 billion campus in California and in our exclusive interview, Dave Coplin, Microsoft’s Chief Envisioning Officer, shares his views on the full potential that technology offers a modern, digital society. Mark Eltringham wonders if our growing preference for mobiles over the office landline indicates a willingness to blur the boundaries between our private and working lives; Simon Heath says the answer to the question “How Will We Work In 2020?” is probably “exactly as we do today” and legal expert Adam Hartley explains why Zero hours contracts are not a new phenomenon.
November 28, 2013
The future belongs to those who leave themselves choices of how to deal with it
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace
Everybody likes to talk and read about the future. It’s one of the reasons we see so many reports about what the ‘office of the future’ will look like. Often these attempts at workplace prognosis are overwhelmingly rooted in the present which might betray either a degree of timidity or lack of awareness of just how far along their standard list of trends we really are. Even when such reports appear to be bang on the money, they tend to disregard one of the most important factors we need to consider when trying to get a handle on the future, which is the need to leave ourselves choices. This is important because not only will the future be stranger than we think, but stranger than we can imagine, to paraphrase J B S Haldane.
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