It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Chloe Sproston, Creative Director from workplace strategy consultants and commercial office fit-out specialists, Blueprint Interiors.
For the early part of 2022, I think businesses will continue to grapple with the question “What do I need an office for?”
Business owners will be questioning how much office space they are going to need and identifying how their people will want to work. Particularly as the work from home trend has now become the new normal.
I also think we will continue to see peaks and troughs in the number of people working from home and the office according to fluctuations in COVID infection rates – which means office spaces will need to be flexible to accommodate this.
MS Teams and other video conferencing tools have proved to be a useful and productive way to conduct meetings that are about process, but when people need to collaborate, innovate or meet socially to bond and team build, the desire for face to face interaction will remain high. We are after all, social beings and will need these interactions to benefit our health and well-being.
However, I also predict that individuals will need to hold greater responsibility for how their career will develop – especially if they are working from home and no longer in front of the people who will influence their career progression on a daily basis. Consequently, I think we will see a shift in the provision of tools that will help employees focus on themselves.
In order to complement the face to face and video interactions managers already have in place with their team, I think we will see an increased use of online tools that will help them to develop and manage teams that are working remotely. The emphasis that is being placed on workplace diversity and inclusion will also quite rightly gain more and more momentum.
