It’s unlikely that office work will ever go away, but it may evolve. Specifically, the ergonomics and tech used in offices should evolve to make office jobs more enjoyable, so that both employers and employees will benefit from the improved atmosphere. If you think back to the days of wooden chairs and desks and compare that to the wizardry that exists today, it is nothing compared to how the office of the future will operate.
Keyboards And Mouses
With voice and optical recognition software progressing so fast and programs that can decipher handwriting and photos, typing and copy/paste may become a thing of the past. Motion control sensors are being developed to take the place of mouses and cursors as well.
Wearable Health Alert Devices
The days of being able to get off work by faking an illness are set to go the way of the dodo. Employees’ health will be monitored by a wearable device the allows workers to check their productivity biorhythms, temperature, blood pressure, and more. In this way, your supervisor can suggest a coffee break when you need it and not by a schedule or timetable.
Desks For Standing
The long-term health risks of working in a sedentary occupation have already been documented. Workspaces will try to eliminate this by encouraging a continuous circuit of moving from a sitting desk to a standing desk throughout the day. Kind of like the fitness machine circuit at the gym.
Video Cloud Surveillance Platforms
Setting up comprehensive video and device management as well as leverage cloud and AI/ML for business analytics is set to spread into all aspects of the work environment. The acknowledged leaders in this field of minimal hardware with continual auto-updates, Arcules, predict that a unified experience with analytics will be what defines business operations in the 2020s.
Retractable/Extendable Pods
The open floor plan environment may not be completely disappearing, but it will definitely have to come with options in the next few years. If a quiet space is needed by a group of office workers or only one, the choice to move partitions around automatically or mechanically will be a feature in the office of the future.
E-Whiteboards
Sitting at home, listening and watching what is being done on the whiteboard in a conference room far away will be possible. Your brainstorming sessions can be interlinked by simulcast to everyone’s PCs, and the meeting can go ahead with flip boards, sketches, and diagrams for all to see.
Fingerprint Scanning
Pressing a finger to a scanner is set to leave the science fiction movie screen and become an ordinary part of business security. It already has some applications in some methods of security checking and access perimeters, but it will become far more widespread in the next two years.
Ergonomics 2.0
Tapping away at a desk all day will soon change forever. Flexi-chairs that allow the user to recline and even lay down are going to change the office environment forever. These smart chairs will also alert you to when you have been sitting for too long. The future of the workplace is an exciting one.
