Today’s employees are the most independent, connected, and tech-savvy generation in history. They spend more time at work than ever before and are demanding more from their workplaces than ever before. They expect to have access to everything at their fingertips, anytime and anywhere including on their personal devices and through a preferred third-party app. To keep up with this demand, employees not only require an environment that is attractive, inspiring and motivating, but one that enables them to be productive at work as well.
Evolving Employee Expectations of Workplace and How Organizations must Evolve
Today’s employees are the most independent, connected, and tech-savvy generation in history. They spend more time at work than ever before and are demanding more from their workplaces than ever before. They expect to have access to everything at their fingertips, anytime and anywhere including on their devices and through a preferred third-party app. To keep up with this demand, employees not only require an environment that is attractive, inspiring, and motivating, but one that enables them to be productive at work as well.
Most of the world’s top companies have realized the importance of adopting an employee-centric culture. Organizations must evolve their employee workplace strategies to meet the evolving employee expectations.
What is a Smart Workplace? Why Should Organizations Prioritize Smart Workplaces?
Smart workplaces are connected, interoperable, and programmable. This means that it can communicate between systems and devices to share information, request services, and deliver information. A smart workplace is also able to sense its environment using sensors and cameras to understand its layout, occupancy, and security needs. Smart workplaces are also able to “learn” about its users and their behavior using machine learning algorithms and analytics. This means that the workplaces can better respond to the needs of users over time.
The increasing demand for mobility, convenience, and a more connected future has resulted in a new paradigm of workplace expectations from employees. These new expectations revolve around their ability to work from anywhere at any time. Employers who can leverage the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) will be the most successful in staying connected with their employees and keeping them motivated in the workplace. The shift towards a more mobile workforce has resulted in a new paradigm of workplace expectations from employees.
It is important to note that smart workplaces technologies can offer several advantages over traditional approaches to creating a more connected workplaces.
How can Organizations start their smart workplace journey?
The first step to getting your organization started with Smart workplaces is understanding what the benefits will be for your employees. From there, it’s important to evaluate the current state of your workplace and how it can be improved to meet the needs of your employees. Start by surveying to understand your employees’ expectations for the workplace. You could also survey your current employees to get a better sense of their needs. While these two methods can help you get a better understanding of your employees’ workplace needs, you may also benefit from conducting focus groups or virtual workshops.
Once you have a better understanding of your employees’ workplace needs, it’s time to plan out how you will begin implementing a smart workplace into your organization. The first step is to identify the technology that will be used to create a smart workplace. While many different components make up a smart workplace, it is important to consider how you will initially implement each one. The first component is a hub that will serve as the central control and communication device for your workplace. This hub can be a computer, a smartphone, a tablet, or even a cloud-enabled hub.
Next, it’s important to identify the different types of sensors that will be used to make your workplace more efficient. Sensors can be used to detect or identify different physical or virtual elements in your workplace. This includes objects, people, temperature, humidity, light, sounds, and more.
How Smart office Buildings Can Maximize Efficiency and team productivity?
Shifts in the work landscape drive a greater focus on occupant experiences and how they can maximize efficiency and team productivity.
Likewise, AI-driven occupancy sensors and beacons can collect data about the number of people in the workplace and monitor indoor air quality. They can also highlight the utilization of different spaces at different times.
How to implement Smart Solutions in Workspaces?
The smart building development process should be an iterative journey rather than a single one-off technology delivery project.
Aastro Tech has developed three phases to achieve a holistic smart building experience, and the three key phases are as follows
- Passive: IoT sensors are embedded into individual building systems or the fabric of the building to gather and analyze systems performance and environmental and/or space utilization data.
- Active: Where building users input data into software systems such as desk or meeting room software, augments data from IoT sensors, and is used to drive analytics and systems settings.
- Interactive Dynamic: Where data from IoT sensors and software systems are integrated into a single interactive solution with automated IoT data collection and software-based user inputs are used to provide a more granular view of building performance and dynamic systems responses.
Conclusion
The demand for a connected workplaces is exploding, and there’s no sign of it slowing down. As more employees look for ways to stay connected, productive, and inspired, organizations must adapt and evolve their workplace strategies. Smart workplaces are connected spaces that enables employees to work remotely and collaborate across geographic locations. These types of workplaces can be implemented using smart building solutions such as smart building automation and sensors. As the demand for connected workplaces continues to surge, organizations must evolve their workplace strategies to meet employee workplace demands.
As a business owner, you must know whom to bring in to facilitate a smart workplace. While the building industry has a long history of excellent construction, it has yet to mature in technology. Reach out to experts to convert your existing workplace into a smart workplace.
