The Workplace of the Future

What you want to do when you leave school? Fourteen-year-old Joe Bowman interviewed two high schoolstudents to see what they imagine will be in store for them when they leave school and enter theworkforce.

When you leave school, do you imagine yourself slumped in front of a computer in a cramped, grey office? Or do you imagine yourself sitting cosily in a comfy chair at home, balancing a laptop in front of you, with an entire workplace right there at your fingertips?

When we compare the workplace our parents are familiar with and the workplace our grandparents had, so many things have changed. Reliance on technologies such as collaborative software, wireless networks, laptops, webcams and videoconferencing continues to increase.

They're all things designed to increase the efficiency and aid the workload of modern businesses. But how will technology in the workplace change between now and the time you enter the workforce?

Technology in the future

Fourteen-year-old Lliam Powell is cautiously optimistic about the cool gadgets we might see in the workplace of the future. "There have been so many huge new things over the past 10 years, such as networking, wireless technology and major improvements to the speed of things on the internet, so the future will probably bring even more things we'd never have even dreamed of before. I won't say robots and hover-cars, but you never know."

Adam Koifman, also 14, is more conservative in his predictions. "I think that technology in the workplace will not change very much," says Adam. "I believe that technologies already invented and in use will just be improved, and become more user-friendly."

The way we work

Lliam doesn't know for sure what the workplace of the future will be like, but he doesn't think it will be an office. "The big companies are going to be downsized, with smaller businesses becoming more efficient and popular with the public," Lliam reckons. "But definitely I think there will be technology so that workers can work from home or wherever, but still be connected to a network."

Adam has a grimmer vision of tomorrow's office spaces. "I think people will work more vigorously, and there will be more work-related stress cases." He suggests the employers and bureaucrats will be to blame for this. "More people will start to work in offices, as opposed to outdoor pursuits due to over-protective and paranoid governments and organisations."

Environmental concerns

Lliam doesn't think big companies are going to change their position on climate change any time soon. "The big industries that are doing all these bad things to the planet are going to become even more unpopular than they are now." But then, these companies might not be around much longer. "I don't think we'll see companies in the future doing those kinds of things, because the public will just destroy them."

Adam says helping the environment will always be less popular than profits. "Large, industrial companies will take hardly any measures to become more environmentally friendly, despite what they tell us. I say this because to a huge, multimillion dollar company such as Fonterra, making money comes before saving the environment."

Maybe they just don't see saving the planet as a way to make money. "It takes a lot of
research, time and money to even start to help to save the environment, and the companies get little or no monetary benefits from it."

The future for employers

The trend towards a greater reliance on modern technology in the workplace is not likely to surprise potential employers in any immediate way. Gradual increases in technological development in the years to come will mean businesses will be able to keep up with the latest improvements, allowing them to balance their reliance on technology with their human resources.

Environmental concerns, however, will cause some employers to be disappointed as the public begins to shun particular industries because of the things they're doing to
Earth.

Technology will also play a greater part in the way employers manage their workers. Networking between employees from a central office will become far more practical, commonplace and efficient as businesses drastically downsize the number of people they employ, and employers will begin to find control over their employees to be a lot simpler than it is now.

Working from home or outside offices will also become a lot more common. Employers will be able to depend on their networks to keep in control of their workers wherever, whenever.

All the disadvantages of working from home we have today - such as unreliable communication with the office - will be no more, and the downsides will be no match for the greater advantages of working from home; such as a more comfortable environment, freedom and ability to manage one's own time, and less work stress.

Without sounding too optimistic, we may just see a more relaxed, natural workplace in the future.