Everyone has an idea of what the future of work should look like, but what about the workplace of the future?

The two are intrinsically linked in terms of how organizations operate and what is most effective for employers and employees alike. 

There’s no ready-made blueprint to help guide HR here, but there are common factors that are likely to determine the outcome for many.

Speaking to UNLEASH in an exclusive interview, Helen Starling, CEO of Paragon Workplace Solutions, states that workplace strategy and experience is top of her mind for clients – in other words, what is the workplace of the future’s purpose?

 “The reality of what they’re concerned about is talent – retention and attraction,” she explains.

“New entrants to the market looking for positions have a very clear idea of what they want and what they don’t.”

Starling is primarily referring to the ongoing tug-of-war between employers and staff over remote working. 

More employers are now enforcing stricter return to office (RTO) policies or using tracking tools to keep a closer eye on where staff are during the week.

But a common census remains elusive and major cities around the world are seeing different trends in terms of how employees are reacting to these changes.

A fundamental sticking point here is that while numerous strategies of how employers want their people to work have evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic, the workplace itself “doesn’t necessarily reflect the new way of working”, Starling says.

“That makes it difficult at the moment for employers to attract people with a return-to-work strategy where there is more of a presence in the workplace.”

No data, no strategy

Another intrinsic issue for employers is that there has been no historic data to base decisions on – either for how employees work remotely or how they use office spaces

“Most organizations, the best they have is turnstile data – they can tell you occupancy, how many people have been in and out on a particular day,” Starling says.

“But other than that, there’s very little quality data to allow them to make decisions.”

In response to this need, Paragon developed Optima, a sentiment-based workplace performance tool which allows employers to capture how employees think and feel about  “not just the workplace, but how they work and what they do in that workplace.”

Part of the rationale here is to cut through to the employee voice, Starling explains, which can often fall by the wayside.

It’s leadership who are determining what the strategy is for everybody else. But they’re not hearing the voice of the employees in the organization and determining strategy on what they need and what they want.”

These needs and wants could, for example, be related to DE&I – she highlights neurodiversity or physical disabilities as two such examples that should factor into thinking about different employee needs.

Attracting talent means the ability to adapt

Alongside talent retention and attrition, Starling says talent attraction will be a key metric for the workplace of the future.

Over time, she says, that will become “more and more obvious” as current trends will begin to demonstrate the longer term impact of some return to work strategies.

However, that doesn’t mean adopting a remote or hybrid-based workplace strategy is going to be a guarantee of success.

While there are currently “zero returns” for employers looking to hire staff to be in the office five days a week, Starling notes that the longer-term view will also be heavily defined by more complex factors.

Cultural engagement, brand understanding and organizational vision are all elements that are “very difficult” to convey with a “dispersed workforce”, Starling comments, while learning and development will be a “huge area to consider.”

All of us learn throughout our careers by working alongside people, engaging with mentors, watching behaviors and  just seeing how the world of work functions could be lost if people stop coming together again in the workplace,” she says.

In this respect, apprenticeship programs can be an invaluable tool in helping encourage workers back to the office more frequently while also reaping the development benefits of in-person collaboration.

Starling remarks that client sites that offer such schemes have seen success in drawing both new talent and more experienced mentors back to the office, creating a “momentum where people wanted to be there, because it was a nice environment.”

“It was full of energy. It was full of people that wanted to be there. It really stimulated a new kind of purpose for being in the office,” she says.

A new workplace for a new generation

Of course, when considering the workplace of the future, the workers of the future also need to be factored into decision-making.

With more Gen Z coming into the workforce for the first time, Starling highlights the need to recognize new and individual needs that this cohort will have, meaning a move away from traditional one-size-fits all strategies.

“It’s really important to understand that everybody works in different ways and  we all do very different jobs,” she says.

We all have different requirements and different needs which require us to work in different ways – being able to recognize that and be flexible enough to be able to support those differences is absolutely key.”

It’s a safe bet that AI is going to become a central part of future workplace strategies, given the current trajectory of investment by employers. 

New talent will also expect AI tools to be more freely available for use within the workplace and Starling says this is another area of focus for Paragon, specifically around productivity and effectiveness of virtual workplaces.

“AI and automation are clearly the topic of the moment, and we’re looking long and hard at how that impacts people – certainly, people’s roles and how they do their jobs,” she says.

Starling adds the likely outcome is the “hotelification” of the workplace, with a “very specialist, white glove feel to it”.

“We see a lot of cautiousness in that space with our clients at the moment about how they’re going to control that and make sure that they’re getting the benefits of those new tools and techniques,” she concludes.