1-on-1 with Wim Pullen: Director of Center For People and Buildings (CFPB) about the workplace of the future
How will the workplace look in 2030?
The workplace of 2030 — that’s only 11 years away — will not be that different from the one today. Ninety-eight percent of the buildings we will be using are already here. Knowledge-based workers will come to the office, meet, and work intensively together and in projects.
There could possibly be the next economic crisis: one that’s deeper and longer than the last. Less manpower in the labor market will have to be earning for a big group of elderly people. A large part of which will still be active part-time, until a later age. The response to save costs will be triggered once again by the economic situation. They have already gotten rid of any extra square meters in some organizations. Can we get by with even less? It will be clear that we started thinking about our vitality at work early and we are prepared for it. That is why the power nap is accepted. Other important factors are:
• the intensive use of space
• combining team- and individual work in workspaces
• a lot more older people
• low growth in productivity with few funds to invest
“The facility manager will need to make the skills of a philosopher his own”
Which factors are going to influence the workplace of the future?
The workplace of the future will be influenced by:
• The available funds in the organization: every euro can only be spent once. More square meters or more quality (also in services and resources) will have to meticulously weighed against a second factor:
• The needs (and not just the wishes) of the personnel. Many people are on looking for experiential value at work, but they are not finding it. This decrease is a risk factor that will have to be dealt with at higher levels because of the growing shortage in the labor market.
• Needs which will have to classified: where do they contribute to a clear improvement in motivation, satisfaction and/or engagement? How are they being realized: by material (FM) or immaterial interventions (HRM)?
• Interests and needs having to shift to the immaterial domain: attachment to the organization (how can employers “use” the brains of their employees) or meaningful work (no unrestrained digitalization but social value, a good story)
• Organizations that can provide a good story, not only for external reasons, but also about the present focus on saving on material costs
• Projects where critical meaning and exaggerated design can be “read” as ridiculous or over the top
“Ask yourself: how do colleagues and managers experience what you’re offering; where does that experience fit in the strategy of your company; where should you change what you’re offering in order to attract and keep new employees?”
What are the biggest challenges for facility managers in creating an innovative workplace?
The facility manager will have to think along: How will our company harness the creative power of our personnel? Aside from the traditional role of the facilities manager as a doer — when it comes to the workplace of 2030 — it is about focusing on what housing, resources and services actually mean, and even more importantly, what their contributions are to strengthening the values and human vision of the organization. The facility manager will need to make the skills of a philosopher — i.e. critical thinking, clear communication, reflection on his own position and assumptions, connecting and translating external and ambiguous signals, to name a few — his own.
This will have consequences for the professionalization of the field, the unions, branch organizations and the educational routes in the Netherlands. The latter will have to focus on more than just educating the doers. I see room for specialization in FM at the academic level, not like how it used to be but stemming from (and connected in an unforced way with) organizational sciences, focused on integration and innovation of company resources.
How can facility managers start responding now to the workplace of 2030?
Read up on what is happening outside of your field. Delve into social developments. Write your own articles that end with reflection. Share those thoughts and see what your colleagues and suppliers think about them. Start discussions and debates within your own organization. Take part in research projects that ask more than “simple” questions. Make sure that you get some insight into what the second and third layers are of the thought-process surrounding the future of your organization. Let soon to be graduates from outside the usual fields have a peek in your company: anthropologists, linguists, educational scientists, and philosophers, just to name a few.
