OFFICE SPACE NEEDS REDUCING AS DIGITAL WORK INCREASES

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Jeffrey Newman

The need for office space is waning quickly as the amount of digital work increases requiring a laptop and internet connection. The need for actual office space, supervisors and traditional employment arrangements will soon be over. Meetings will be held on line or via 3D teleconferencing technology and there will be significant savings to companies that will no longer need large buildings to house their employees. There will be some exceptions, for example laboratory research and drug development, which is highly collaborative and requires space, but even this will morph as new ways of developing therapeutics via bioinformatics and data driven chemistry continues to develop. All of this is giving rise to new industries spawning to help create new environments in the home for efficient work via design and efficient electronics. In addition, work psychologists say there will be an increased need for “the third place”–where individuals go within their own community to connect with real live people. Gyms, coffee shops, libraries, even newly created community locations will flourish to meet the needs of people to be with others.