Work is no longer a place.

Thanks to Moore’s Law technology is now so small and powerful that you can live and work anywhere in the world with an internet connection. As a result, we now use technology to be (virtually) anywhere, at any time.

The lines between work and home are becoming increasingly blurred.

These advances have drawn us closer virtually, yet at the same time, have isolated us physically. This isolation has spurred a trend where people are increasingly using technology to connect and meet new people in the physical world restoring a sense of community. Services such as WeLive, The Collective (co-living) and WeWork (co-working) are increasing in popularity as we continue to leverage technology to shift more towards being our true, human selves. We’re witnessing a trend where we’re breaking free from the constraints inflicted upon us by the industrial revolution’s ‘9-5’ mentality.

Make no mistake that this is not a new trend. In 1997 a Hitachi Executive named Tsugio Makimoto coined the term ‘Digital Nomad’ in his book by the same title. Here, he and co-author David Manners predicted a world where increased network speeds and small but powerful devices would free us from our ‘cubicle and commute’ prisons—a trend we predict will continue to flourish in 2018.

Predictions

→ Businesses flock to work-from-anywhere policies

A large number of businesses that currently have rigid ‘you must be in the office’ policies soften their stance—allowing their employees to work from anywhere.

→ Multiple new co-living/working companies founded

As this is a relatively new market the landscape is ripe for more companies to enter it and make significant changes to how people live and work.

Opportunity

Increase employee happiness, productivity and engagement through experimentation with both virtual and physical working environments.

The fact is all business are not created equal, and the same goes for the humans that work within them. To see if you can gain a competitive edge, experiment by leveraging ‘work-from-anywhere’ policies to potentially increase employee engagement and productivity in your workforce. There are studies that have shown that in some cases remote workers are more efficient than non-remote workers. Although, keep in mind there are conflicting opinions on the topic and it heavily depends on the type of business you are running—hence why experimentation is key.

In addition, if you are thinking of moving to an open-planned office space, careful planning is required as studies have shown some open-plan offices are in fact harmful to employees. These studies show the opposite effect of what businesses are looking to achieve with an open-plan, AKA increased collaboration, serendipitous ‘water cooler’ exchanges, and faster transformation throughout organisations.

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An excerpt from Tigerspike’s Tech Trends ’18 — Trend #02

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