WORKPLACE
Building the Office of the Future
After recalling employees back to the office, Zoom talks to UC Advanced about how they have designed their new office spaces.
How do you organise your workspace? It’s a huge question facing businesses right now. That’s an almost comical dilemma to pose to businesses when you think about the working conditions that greeted us before the turn of the decade. But just like Tottenham Hotspurs in European competitions, those days are gone! Fact is, rather than employees fighting to work from home, employers are now finding clever ways, usually in employment contracts, to make them come into the office, resulting in what we all know now as the great resignation. So what’s the answer? Frankly, who knows? Are those businesses who want to restore a sense of community “calling everyone back to the office”? I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Is every business that doesn’t use an office missing out? Again, not necessarily the case. We are all getting used to this hybrid working schtick. Those that say they have cracked it would appear to be ahead, but if a company like Zoom has called for a partial return to the office, maybe, just maybe, there’s something to be learnt. Why now? After three years of enabling us all to work from home, it can hit a little hypocritical that now Zoom is advocating for office spaces to
be full of employees. So what has changed? Why has Zoom made this U-turn? According to Alana Collins, Head of Real Estate & Workplace, this decision is all about practising what Zoom preaches. “We’ve heard from surveys and studies from our partners in our business, our customers, and the same thing keeps coming back: People want to come to the office, to socialise, and to collaborate and to innovate. Our customers are asking us for solutions to make the journey to the office better because people’s lives have shifted and businesses are bringing their folks back to the office. “This new office is about drinking our own champagne, we are walking the walk. With this office we wanted to make sure that each space had a different offering and a different experience so that when people came to the office, they could kind of curate and pick how they wanted to work, because each team works very differently. “We are also showcasing the variety of different solutions Zoom has to offer. Our old office was a fixed space that was designed five years ago. We knew that it had to be technology-focused with our latest and greatest solutions, and use things like Intelligent Director, so our employees learn how to use it. This office is a great way to
Alana Collins Head of Real Estate & Workplace
www.zoom.us
If a company like Zoom has called for a partial return to the office, maybe, just maybe, there’s something to be learnt.
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