While modern technology is causing dramatic shifts in the way people work, some things are always likely to be the same.
Humans, as social beasts, crave interaction with one another. So while it is possible for more and more employees to work in the comfort of their own homes, not every individual wishes to do so.
Remote and mobile working may be a great option as a Plan B – a cost-saving alternative to the norm – but most employees still enjoy the traditional work environment.
And this is one of the reasons why the office is always likely to have a role to play in business.
Richard Kauntze, chief executive of the British Council for Offices, certainly believes this will be the case.
“There will always be a need for offices,” he said. “They come in different shapes and forms of course, and I think we will see that more and more as the years go by.
“What increasingly has happened over the past ten years in particular, is that the boundaries between work and home have become extraordinarily blurred and technology has allowed us to work entirely flexibly on the move.”
Mr Kauntze said that where offices will continue to thrive is that – although technology allows us to work anywhere at any time – fundamentally, we like being with other people.
“We’re social beings and therefore we will gather together in something that is called an office,” he stated.
“Although in some respects it will look perhaps a bit less like a traditional office in the years to come, it will still function as an office.”
