How Are Virtual Workplaces Disrupting The Traditional Work Structure?
The last few years have brought a disruption in the traditional workplace structure and work culture. Humans have witnessed the emergence of a gig economy, the development of remote work, and increasing mobile technologies facilitating day-to-day tasks.
Closely integrated with digital solutions, companies are updating their traditional work practices, resulting in a remarkable enhancement in their productivity. The use of advanced technology is also offering a massive competitive advantage to such businesses. One such evident transformation is the rapid adoption of mobile devices for businesses and the practice of retrieving data from any location at any time.
The result has been a growth in virtual workplaces where a mobile workforce uses portable technologies to conduct business with high efficiency.
Through a myriad of ways, these virtual workplaces are transforming the conventional office environment, some of which are described below:
Redefining Job Roles
With the advancement of technology and the large-scale impact of globalization, the role of virtual employees has changed. Jobs are broken as per the project and the levels of the task, where the members of each team member are fluid and based on their need for a particular task.
Virtual workplaces pay less attention to the number of working hours and more towards project completion. Team members located in different geographic locations work interdependently to complete a defined project within a specific deadline.
With a flatter organization structure, individual employees don’t follow a traditional hierarchy and display reporting behaviors that differ from the conventional office culture.
Redesigning Workspaces
Each office activity needs a specific environment to get done efficiently: an auditorium to announce an idea to a large number of people, a private room for taking interviews, a coffee shop to get familiar with a new team member, break rooms where staff can have a leisurely discussion, etc.
Traditionally, conventional workspaces needed to have one or more of the above areas to carry out their tasks. With the increased use of mobile technologies, companies have become capable of delivering positive experiences without depending on physical spaces to hold meetings.
Workspaces that cater to virtual employees have made it possible to explore environments where employees can connect productively, communicate, build, and think. Irrespective of their geographical location, the practice of working collaboratively enables the virtual workforce to be more productive, thereby, enhancing their efficiency and output.
Re-envisaging the Capabilities of the Workforce
In the coming years, the world will witness the emergence of many next-generation technologies with significant effects on conventional workplace culture.
For instance, an amalgamation of AI (artificial intelligence) and machine intelligence will enhance employee performance by automating redundant and repetitive tasks. While most backend processes will get automated, virtual team members would be involved in tasks requiring high-level strategizing, implementation and development.
Similarly, the advancement in 5G technologies will facilitate business communications, improving cellular performance and enhancing global correspondence between far-off team members. Virtual reality (VR) and real-time video technologies will remove further hindrance and enable seamless conversations all across the globe. In a nutshell, the evolution of technologies will empower human resources to be more productive, flexible and efficient.
EndNote
Virtual workplaces, defined as the integration of hardware, human resources, and online process are bringing a major shift in employee culture. Aided by the development of Avante-Garde, innovative technologies, the online processes involved are redefining traditional job-roles and restructuring the conventional concept of workspaces.
With globalisation making outsourcing a common practice, it’s critical for organisations to explore the possibilities of virtual workplaces and assess its potential for organisational growth.