The Future of Work is all about collaboration, so we would like to cordially thank our partners for their support & inspiration!
Please find out below, how some of them shake up their own or other workplaces!
Office for the Equality of Men and Women of the Canton of Zurich
How are you shaking up your workplace?
Our small office is fully based on an inclusive work culture and for the first time in its history, the Equality Office is working with a 50:50 team: 3 women and 3 men of a mission! We have shared work stations and practice flex and home work to manage with everyone's activities, study or other obligations. Our communication is open and inclusive and our work built on teamwork effort.
What was your biggest challenge? How did you resolve it?
Part-time work allows people to follow private activities but asks for shared responsibilities, good communication and team work. That's challenging! We resolve it by always having two people in charge of projects to make sure all duties are dealt with in time.
What’s your vision for the Future of Work?
Our vision for the Future of Work are low hierarchies, project based work with shared responsibilities, an inclusive culture to all minorities, promotion for women into leadership positions, flexible work hours and possibilities to arrange work with one's private life.
Moving Walls
The world of interior (design) is not about the furniture but rather what the furniture enables humans to do. In this context, the Future of Work can be seen a movement towards freeing people from the many constraints that we have built into our working environments. The whole purpose of agile working is to make it easier for people to work and co-create together – or help people create solutions to wicked and worthy problems.
This is why Moving Walls setout to build work environments that bring people together rather than separating them. We create work environments that enable people to create breakthrough results in a radically shortened time-frame. And, optimally, people have fun while doing so!
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Unispace Global
How is your company shaking up the workplace or shaping the future of work?
At Unispace, we’re not afraid to challenge the status quo when it comes to workplace design. Our aim is to create human-centric, bespoke environments that ultimately bring teams together, increase productivity and help achieve business goals. For example, in Perth, Australia, we designed one of the world’s most high tech and well-balanced campuses for Woodside by partnering with NASA, MIT and IBM. On a global scale, we strive to build partnerships with our clients and create ground-breaking workplaces that pave the way for future generations.
What was your biggest challenge? How did you resolve it?
Oh, we do love a challenge. Whether it’s a heritage building in the centre of Milan, a 60,000sqft campus for a FTSE 500 company, or helping a local bank recover from a natural disaster, we face each project knowing there will be challenges along the way but our unique methodology ensures a seamless experience and delivery for our clients. For example, in the aftermath of the 2016 earthquake in Wellington, New Zealand, it was paramount for BNZ to maintain a position as market leader and to showcase the resilience of the bank in the face of adversity. So, we helped to establish a collaborative space where BNZ can work with, support and interact with clients. We tackled the problem by challenging the status quo and looking beyond the finance industry for inspiration, incorporating a seamless and responsive digital interface to the space.
What’s your vision for the Future of Work?
There’s always a lot of talk about future trends in the workplace and what businesses will be investing in. Artificial intelligence is a hot topic along with increasing better wellness in the workplace. For us, the Future of Work lies in the next generation. We believe that the office space needs to an environment where people love to be, not have to be – in whatever form that takes – and keeping up with lifestyle trends and culture to ensure the optimal work/life balance.
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citizenM
How are you shaking up the workplace?
citizenM likes to shake up not just our own workplace, but everyone else’s too. As a global lifestyle hotel company, we see the changes in the world of work as they happen. Our first hotel opened in 2008. Even then, we saw how people wanted the freedom to work anywhere, but it was difficult to find places to do it. So, we took away the typical hotel restaurant, spa and empty lobby and replaced it with a designer living room instead – ideal for working, with superfast free Wi-Fi always available. Immediately, we saw this was the right decision. Soon, we gained frequent users who weren’t hotel guests, but they wanted the citizenM experience of working in comfort, surrounded by cool design. For them, we introduced the zero-commitment, no-membership coworking day passes.
It’s clear to us – today’s workplace isn’t an office, but anywhere people want to open their laptop. citizenM welcomes them all.
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What was your biggest challenge? How did you resolve it?
Back in 2010, at the citizenM Glasgow hotel, the living room became a popular place for professionals to meet. They wanted to reserve spaces and tables – and we wanted to, but we also had to keep the living room available to our hotel guests. We solved this by creating societyM – a suite of meeting rooms designed with the same inspiration as the rest of the hotel. Today, there are societyM creative meeting spaces at almost every citizenM, available to book for full and half-days.
What is your vision for the future of work?
We think the future is even more flexible – much less 9-to-5 cubicle life, and more freedom to work anywhere (not just when travelling). At the same time, people will want to return to a familiar place where they are always inspired, comfortable and – most importantly – have the technology that suits their speed of working, like superfast Wi-Fi. For some, this place will undoubtedly be a citizenM hotel.
