Revealed: How the office of 2030 will boost employee engagement

From chill spaces for employees to tea-making drones, the office of 2030 has a lot to offer future employees, according to Plusnet.The phone and broadband provider has recently launched research into what the office of the future will look like.

“What surprised me was how quickly new technology is coming in,” Matthew Foster, Media and Online Relations Specialist, tells HR Grapevine. “For instance, Christopher Barnatt, who is an Associate Professor at Nottingham University, talked about how virtual reality can put people in a meeting on the other side of the world, purely through wearing a virtual reality headset and being projected into the meeting. While we looked at the 2030 office space, that’s something that is happening in the next five years or so.”

Future offices could also include such high-tech features as hologram receptionists run by AI, foldable computers, full cloud integration, 3D printers, universal translators, diagnostic toilets that analyse the health of employees, and virtual gaming machines for staff wishing to plug out for a while.

However, Plusnet’s study is not the only one commenting on how offices may need to change. Steelcase has released new research that shows that UK workers are less engaged than other workers around the globe. 12,000 workers in 17 countries were surveyed. It found that 59% of UK employees felt a lack of control of their working environment, 43% reported concentrating difficulties and 50% said that they were unable to work without being interrupted.