The purpose of the workplace has changed. Employees proved that they could be productive while working remotely, and they do not want to lose the flexibility they gained (Dahik et al., 2021). In addition, many companies are struggling to bring back employees to the office, and a lot of empty office space is becoming available (Gujral et al., 2021). In consequence, a new concept of the workplace is required. However, to design a future-proof workplace, it is necessary to understand what employees will need in the future and how they will work, have a clear vision of the company, and envision futures without the present's constraints. Unfortunately, the traditional research tools used in workplace studies fall short in this task, and some companies find these types of studies time-consuming. Therefore, this thesis aims to design a time-efficient tool to trigger users and clients to think and speak about the future workplace.
This project starts by understanding the evolution of the workplace and its trends and condensing this information into a development map divided into five workplace dimensions (Work model, location, space, services, and technology) and organized in three timelines (past, present, and future). Then, it develops a tool using future studies and co-design methods and incorporating the investigated workplace development map to trigger clients and users to think and speak about the future workplace. Finally, the tool was prototyped, tested with users, and iterated two times. The test results were positive, proving that incorporating futures studies and co-design is a potent combination that incites future thinking and provokes conversations about the future workspace.
The main contribution of this thesis can be condensed into five principles offering possible new applications of the tool to other domains where triggering people to think and speak about the future is required. The five principles are: Start with a multiperspective trend analysis on the specific topic, organize the information into timelines and dimensions, include random future predictions, enable open conversations in a workshop setting, and keep the outcome strategic and tangible. Moreover, this thesis also explores the potential combination of futures studies and co-design methods, enabling further research opportunities.
This project was done in collaboration with Drees & Sommer, a real estate consulting firm with headquarters in Germany and offices in the Netherlands.