In 1996, our modern way of living would not have been fathomable to an office worker in their day to day lives. Yes, there were mobile phones but you wouldn’t have found a computer at every desk in most workplaces. A 90’s workforce would never have predicted the accessibility and flexibility that we enjoy today.
Yet in this year, the world was musically blessed with a stark warning of a dystopian future in which humanity became so dependent on technology that the world would barely function.
Sound familiar?
I am of course talking about Jamiroquai’s smash hit “Virtual Insanity”. It’s a soundtrack to my childhood with the 1996 third album “Travelling Without Moving” being played often on my Father’s HiFi stereo system. 27 years later, the relevancy of Virtual Insanity is more prevalent and important than ever.
So what has this got to do with commercial real estate?
Coming out of a global pandemic, the embracement of technology accelerated threefold in the working sector. The idea of taking your work home with you became very literal when we were isolated during lockdown. Once the world opened up again, business owners who have wanted to see a return to a social working environment have been met with resistance from employees, who believe collaborating with colleagues virtually is just as effective as in a room.
This has created a battleground for what will become the future “norm” of working, and worryingly some organisations are being “governed by this love we have for useless, twisting, new technology”.
Don’t get me wrong, I love technology, I still remember when phones weren’t smart and seeing the potential when this new “smart” technology started to be embraced. But where do we draw the line? How healthy can it be to allow technology to govern our lives at the expense of the lived experience, which includes meeting and working with people. We gain so much from working side by side our “frolleagues” and whether we like it or not, careers and promotions are built on relationships. This doesn’t mean that new ways of working can’t be embraced or that technological advancements should be ignored, but the benefits of office working needs to be acknowledged in any debate.
Critics will say it’s not about the office or colleagues, it is the commute which puts people off. It’s a sympathetic argument to make but if humans didn’t move more than five metres from their doorstep, we would never travel the world either, and no one is suggesting they won’t holiday abroad because we don’t like the airport experience.
In any case, recent studies suggest commuting is actually good for our mental health. The commute to work allow employees to switch on for the day and switch off, allowing the commuter to decompress before and after a busy day at work. Without this ritual, Microsoft have reported that “after-hours chats” were up by 69% on the company’s messaging platforms, with workers less engaged and more exhausted.
I personally find commuting to be a creative experience, this blog was in fact thought up with my earphones in, packed like a sardine on the central line.
So where are we left, with this new virtual insanity?
Time will ultimately tell, but I personally hope LDG’s “meta office” doesn’t become a virtual reality.
