By Despina KatsikakisEdition 9 – December 2017 Pages 08-15

Tags: office design • facilities management • human resources

Over the last 10 years, technology has given us the choice of where and how to access information. Being connected anywhere has enabled a shift from work as ‘somewhere you go’ to work as ‘something you do’ anytime, anyplace.

While this new engagement with work increases flexibility, it also brings increased working hours and information overload as people are lost in their devices, 24/7, with little awareness of their surrounding environment. The results in the workplace are people who are both disengaged and distracted. Gallup (2013) reports that 70 per cent of American workers, are ‘not engaged’, and are just going through the motions of working or are ‘actively disengaged’, hate going to their work and undermine their companies with their attitude.

These figures are consistent with data from the UK and even more extreme figures in the developing world.

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