Office trends to keep an eye on this year

Today’s booming office market offers clients a huge variety of amenities involving technology and design. Now, many companies are tapping into the biggest trends in order to attract and retain upcoming younger generations.

One trend is the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) that can collect copious amounts of data to help make evidence-based strategic decisions. For example, the Associated Press uses AI to generate text and fill in video for routine stories, such as quarterly earnings reports.

Virtual reality (VR) also provides a great chance for immersive training for new employees and allows them to experience almost lifelike job scenarios. Similarly, augmented reality (AR) combines two worlds together by bringing virtual elements into the physical world.

Another trend is training employees to learn new skills rather than outsourcing to tech experts or hiring new workers. By taking the models of university classrooms, corporations can pick effective training strategies for certain skills.

The past few years have also shown a big shift in office design. It is now more open and collaborative rather than private and cubicle-laced. While this trend may not be permanent, its effect on office environments is evident.

Coinciding with open office design is the increase of coworking spaces within the office market. Coworking spaces provide flexibility and also the adoption of technology that support remote communication. Both large corporations and small startups are benefitting largely from this model of work.

Many mobile workers are prioritizing experiences over possessions. With this, companies have started offering more flexible schedules and actual experiences within offices.

As technology becomes a bigger part of the work environment, employees can integrate their own personal devices with it. For example, room sensors could theoretically be programmed to pull up meeting information as a particular employee enters the room.