How technology is changing how we work
Technology and workplace evolution
Once upon a time not too long ago anyone who had their own home office, or even merely a desk, was an author, professor or company director. With the advent of the internet, email and mobile technology, dynamic working is now attainable to the masses. Fusing working from home with going into the office.
Hybrid working
A study carried out by the Confederation of British Industry showed that teleworking rose from 14% in 2006 to 46% in 2008. This figure has continued to rise and according to data from the Trade Union Centre (TUC), approximately four million people in the UK now work from home permanently, with millions more occasionally working from home.
With the obvious advantages of telecommuting, namely avoiding commutes to work and increased productivity, more and more employers are opting to give their workforce the homeworking option.
British Telecom was one of the homeworking pioneers. As far back as 1986, British Telecom began a telework scheme. Today 15,000 of the company’s 92,000 employees work from home. At HSBC, 15,000 out of 35,000 members of staff also have the option of working remotely. The company argues homeworkers save on average, £6,000 a year, take fewer sick days and are 20% more productive.
The shift toward remote and hybrid working has also contributed to the rise of co-working spaces, where independent professionals, freelancers, and employees working remotely can benefit from a structured yet flexible office environment. This change is not just altering traditional work patterns—it’s redefining our understanding of workplace efficiency.
Technology’s role in the workplace
Just as technology has revolutionised remote work, it has also reshaped how we operate within an office environment. Technology is encroaching into most areas of our lives, including how we run meetings. Thankfully, these technological advances are improving the dynamics of how business meetings and conferences work, making them ever more efficient and effective.
Technology has streamlined workplace communication, ensuring that interactions are permanently recorded via email and collaboration platforms rather than relying on word-of-mouth exchanges. This shift has improved accessibility, efficiency, and the ability to communicate seamlessly across teams and time zones.
The benefits of technology for the workplace
How technology breaks down workplace barriers
Whether it is routing calls effectively, having access to internal systems or being able to monitor productivity amongst employees, it is all made possible with the use of cloud-based technologies.
Increased collaboration
Cloud computing enables companies to deploy communication tools, apps, and shared databases, making collaboration effortless. Businesses can now integrate new tools while phasing out outdated systems more seamlessly than ever before. What once took months to implement can now be introduced in weeks or even days, significantly boosting efficiency and agility.
Small businesses gaining a competitive edge
Whilst using cloud-based systems was once a privilege for larger organisations with bigger budgets, now smaller companies with smaller budgets have access to these technologies. This gives smaller businesses a competitive edge against larger competitors, by being able to access the same technology-assisted tools.
For example, video conferencing—once an expensive, enterprise-level tool—is now available to businesses of all sizes. This has made remote meetings, international collaboration, and virtual networking as accessible to startups as they are to multinational corporations.
What are your thoughts about the homeworking revolution? Are you, like HSBC and British Telecom, in favour of giving employees the flexibility of virtual offices? Or are you more on Yahoo’s wavelength, who’s CEO recently banned remote working as part of a new “era of collaboration?”