Note

An earlier version of this article was originally published in December 2010 on the Australian Fairfax Press The National Times site.

What will workplaces look like in 10 years? Almost certainly quite different — because already workplaces are changing and multiplying and fragmenting and there is no reason to believe that will stop. A time-honoured cliche, but none the worse for that, is: "Work is something you do, not somewhere you go."

Where will you go? More and more people will be working from multiple sites: their home, a hot-desk at their employer's premises, a local co-working hub, a cafe, hotel, airport lounge or a customer's premises. They will be able to pick and choose to work wherever it fits and wherever they are. In a mobile, digital, age they can connect to a network of information, resources, tools, colleagues and friends without regard to where those things are.

Welcome to the world of post-geographic working, which will be a reality for many but not all. There will always be jobs that need to be done somewhere (farmer, plumber, factory worker, surgeon) and there will always be people that need to interact with people in person (infant teacher, theatre actor, nurse). And those may become particularly valued jobs in a society when in-person contact is reduced. But for those in the knowledge sector who work on non-material products or services, work can be done anyplace, which will bring a number of consequences and collateral effects that we already see emerging.

First, and obviously, non-material knowledge work will become more intimately entailed with computers and networks. But when those networks reach everywhere, location will not be a competitive advantage. Someone on the other side of the country, or the other side of the world, can compete. Outsourcing shows that organisations are not slow in picking up on that. What will the competitive differentiators be? A cultural match and understanding with your customer could be one, which is something you can't compress into a pdf. Someone who is in tune with and can add unique value to your customer will be valued. As will innovative and highly-creative services that cannot be commoditised.

Second, work will, as today, be undertaken by people working in virtual teams: people who collaborate at a distance. Rich technologies will allow them to share work progress and products and make mutual business decisions online. But those teams are likely to become more multi-cultural because of the increasing market value of diversity and deep cultural knowledge. So knowing how to work with others across distance and difference will become an increasingly important personal skill for individuals, managers and organisations.

Third, organisations themselves are likely to shrink towards their core competencies in response to a wider offering of services that can readily be brought in. (An organisation's core competencies are what their competitors would buy from them.) Work will be come increasingly contractualised. Organisations, managers and providers who prosper will be those who understand how accurately to define even complex services in terms of results to be delivered when, where, at what price and to what quality.

Inside the organisation, the manager-employee relationship will also become more contractualised. Building on the current practice of managing virtual teams by objectives, delivering what by when at an agreed cost will be key. And because someone setting a contract need not care where the work is undertaken, employees will join external contractors in being able to work when and where they want. A lot of that is not going to be in the traditional office (which will be looking expensive and carbon-unfriendly). A lot of that will be at the more appealing or convenient or cheap locations mentioned previously.

Fourth, when work is performed anywhere, workplace relationships will need to be handled more explicitly. Certainly a lot of social interaction will take place online. But we know that the trust and personal bonds that underpin deep and effective collaboration, for example in virtual teams, need periodic in-person recharging. So alongside hot desks for drop-in employees, office premises will have social areas, designed to be great places to meet. And great places for an employer to keep their brand in front of a highly-mobile workforce. (Employers who have in the past forced home working on their staff have found they have needed to ramp up social activities to prevent disengagement. The ability to facilitate social cohesion within a dispersed workforce might become a further source of competitive advantage.)

The workplaces of the future will be different. They might seem rather stark: based for many on bits not bricks, more distributed and more reliant on contractual relationships. But people will still be people and the sound of clinking glasses will still be important for successful business.

NOTICES

This article

Please cite this article as: Gundry, John, "The Future of Work is Anyplace". Article by Knowledge Ability Ltd, Malmesbury UK. Published at www.knowab.co.uk/futureofwork.html. February 2011.

Resources on post-geographic ("anyplace") working

Knowledge Ability offers a range of training courses on post-geographic ("anyplace") working which are described on our Training Courses Page.

About the author

Dr John Gundry is Founder and Director of Knowledge Ability Ltd: gundry@knowab.co.uk - +44 (0)1666 826654

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