The Future of the Office


Book Description

A GLOBE & MAIL BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic forced an unprecedented experiment that reshaped white-collar work and turned remote work into a kind of "new normal." Now comes the hard part. Many employees want to continue that normal and keep working remotely, and most at least want the ability to work occasionally from home. But for employers, the benefits of employees working from home or hybrid approaches are not so obvious. What should both groups do? In a prescient new book, The Future of the Office: Work from Home, Remote Work, and the Hard Choices We All Face, Wharton professor Peter Cappelli lays out the facts in an effort to provide both employees and employers with a vision of their futures. Cappelli unveils the surprising tradeoffs both may have to accept to get what they want. Cappelli illustrates the challenges we face by in drawing lessons from the pandemic and deciding what to do moving forward. Do we allow some workers to be permanently remote? Do we let others choose when to work from home? Do we get rid of their offices? What else has to change, depending on the approach we choose? His research reveals there is no consensus among business leaders. Even the most high-profile and forward-thinking companies are taking divergent approaches: --Facebook, Twitter, and other tech companies say many employees can work remotely on a permanent basis. --Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and others say it is important for everyone to come back to the office. --Ford is redoing its office space so that most employees can work from home at least part of the time, and --GM is planning to let local managers work out arrangements on an ad-hoc basis. As Cappelli examines, earlier research on other types of remote work, including telecommuting offers some guidance as to what to expect when some people will be in the office and others work at home, and also what happened when employers tried to take back offices. Neither worked as expected. In a call to action for both employers and employees, Cappelli explores how we should think about the choices going forward as well as who wins and who loses. As he implores, we have to choose soon.




Future Office


Book Description

The office is dead. Long live the office. Despite decades of predictions that the office is on the verge of extinction, it is surviving and thriving. Of course, things are changing. And changing fast. Digital technologies are transforming not only the work we do, but also the ways our workplaces are designed, built and operated. Automation and AI mean that some jobs will no longer exist whilst others will be created. But the very essence of the workplace — human interaction and collaboration, remains as necessary as ever. In fact, it is the human focus that is driving this new age, with four generations now in the workplace together for the first time. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book discusses the impacts of these changes on the future of work and workplace. The latest technologies are also explored from voice and digital twins, to new materials such as graphene and battery-powered buildings.




Future Office


Book Description

Developments in IT and the resulting knowledge-based economy have challenged traditional concepts of office design, as well as many of the larger architectural and urban design models. This book examines the implications of this revolution on current urban design and identifies potential new trends in office design from an international perspective. Six themes are addressed: IT and building infrastructure new office/new community organizational change high performance building envelopes interior environment value added sustainable design. These forward-thinking essays have been contributed by practitioners and academics from a wide spectrum of interests to deliver an illuminating look into the unfolding possibilities and challenges ahead.




Future Office


Book Description

Developments in IT and the resulting knowledge-based economy have challenged traditional concepts of office design, as well as many of the larger architectural and urban design models. This book examines the implications of this revolution on current urban design and identifies potential new trends in office design from an international perspective. Six themes are addressed: IT and building infrastructure new office/new community organizational change high performance building envelopes interior environment value added sustainable design. These forward-thinking essays have been contributed by practitioners and academics from a wide spectrum of interests to deliver an illuminating look into the unfolding possibilities and challenges ahead.







The Nowhere Office


Book Description

As remote working becomes the norm rather than the exception for many office workers around the globe, The Nowhere Office proposes a radical new way of thinking about work both now and in the future. Offering a strategic and practical guide to negotiating this pivotal moment in the history of work, The Nowhere Office addresses the problems which beset work - the endemic stagnant productivity and crisis of stress which predate the pandemic - and the new challenges of remote working, repurposing offices for more creative interaction, managing WFH teams and satisfying the demand for more purposeful work with greater work/life balance. Drawing on history, cutting-edge research and extensive interviews Julia Hobsbawm argues persuasively that now is the time to develop something better, more meaningful, and, crucially, more workable.




Where Is My Office?


Book Description

An examination of the future of our workspaces and how the pandemic will continue to shape how and where we work. In the era of WFH, hybrid working and flexible hours, going to the office is no longer what it used to be. Many businesses and organizations, as well as the entire commercial real estate sector, are struggling to address their new workplace dilemmas in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the rise of diverse working practices and new technological innovations, the traditional office space no longer serves the needs of the workforce. And with increasing numbers of staff now comfortable with a degree of working from home, how can companies assess their longer-term workspace needs? This new follow-up edition of Where Is My Office?, fully revised and updated to reflect the true impact of the pandemic on the workplace, highlights some of the bold new frameworks and practical considerations for business leaders, workplace practitioners and those involved in commercial real estate as they navigate the complex post-pandemic working landscape. Authors Chris Kane and Eugenia Anastassiou draw upon their extensive knowledge and experience to investigate the new-found significance of innovative corporate real estate thinking in modern workplaces. Where is My Office?: The Post-Pandemic Edition is a must-read for any business leader or senior manager looking to revitalize their workplace in a post-pandemic environment, and to develop a greater understanding of the beneficial impacts that creative workplace strategies that harness the relationship between people, place, technology, and the environment can have upon their organization's success.




The Office of the Future


Book Description

Monograph Series of the International Council for Computer Communications, Volume 1: The Office of the Future: Communication and Computers focuses on the advancements in the processes, technologies, techniques, principles, and approaches involved in communication and computers, including computer based tools, data gathering and information retrieval, and office automation. The publication first elaborates on the automated office of the future, tools to support the communication activity, and text editing tools for generating, organizing, analyzing, and transforming information. Discussions focus on generating, organizing, and analyzing information, basic message system concepts, impact of computer networks, and other processes in the office. The text then examines the integration of computer based tools, data gathering and information retrieval tools, coordination tools in the office of the future, and tools to support office processes. The manuscript ponders on the integration of the spoken word with interactive computer based office support systems, underlying technology, digital channel, and software aspects of the office environment utilizing the micro-processor. Topics include single board computer, advances in digital computer communications technology, future directions for digital networks, bandwidth availability, and storage and retrieval of voice information. The book is a dependable source of data for computer science experts and researchers interested in the relationship of communication and computers.




The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents


Book Description

"A cleareyed, accessible, and informative primer: vital reading for all Americans." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review Can the president launch a nuclear attack without congressional approval? Is it ever a crime to criticize the president? Can states legally resist a president’s executive order? In today’s fraught political climate, it often seems as if we must become constitutional law scholars just to understand the news from Washington, let alone make a responsible decision at the polls. The Oath and the Office is the book we need, right now and into the future, whether we are voting for or running to become president of the United States. Constitutional law scholar and political science professor Corey Brettschneider guides us through the Constitution and explains the powers—and limits—that it places on the presidency. From the document itself and from American history’s most famous court cases, we learn why certain powers were granted to the presidency, how the Bill of Rights limits those powers, and what “we the people” can do to influence the nation’s highest public office—including, if need be, removing the person in it. In these brief yet deeply researched chapters, we meet founding fathers such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, as well as key figures from historic cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and Korematsu v. United States. Brettschneider breathes new life into the articles and amendments that we once read about in high school civics class, but that have real impact on our lives today. The Oath and the Office offers a compact, comprehensive tour of the Constitution, and empowers all readers, voters, and future presidents with the knowledge and confidence to read and understand one of our nation’s most important founding documents.




Out of Office


Book Description

“This book will challenge you to rethink what it takes to make remote work work—not just for companies, but for people.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife The future isn’t about where we will work, but how. For years we have struggled to balance work and life, with most of us feeling overwhelmed and burned out because our relationship to work is broken. This “isn't just a book about remote work. It's a book that helps us imagine a future where our lives—at the office and home—are happier, more productive, and genuinely meaningful” (Charles Duhigg, best-selling author of The Power of Habit). Out of Office is a book for every office worker – from employees to managers – currently facing the decision about whether, and how, to return to the office. The past two years have shown us that there may be a new path forward, one that doesn’t involve hellish daily commutes and the demands of jam-packed work schedules that no longer make sense. But how can we realize that future in a way that benefits workers and companies alike? Based on groundbreaking reporting and interviews with workers and managers around the world, Out of Office illuminates the key values and questions that should be driving this conversation: trust, fairness, flexibility, inclusive workplaces, equity, and work-life balance. Above all, they argue that companies need to listen to their employees – and that this will promote, rather than impede, productivity and profitability. As a society, we have talked for decades about flexible work arrangements; this book makes clear that we are at an inflection point where this is actually possible for many employees and their companies. Out of Office is about so much more than zoom meetings and hybrid schedules: it aims to reshape our entire relationship to the office.