From retirement homes to shopping centers, facility management during the COVID-19 outbreak has had central importance in managing this public health crisis. There's no doubt that it's an overwhelming and demanding time to execute excellent facility management during the COVID-19 challenge.
Often cited as the technology that is kickstarting the "second era of the internet", blockchain is already transforming the world of business and human affairs. Popularized as the technology behind BitCoin, blockchain is a decentralized database stored on different computers as identical copies.
Millennials, the generation born between 1980 and 2000, are taking the offices by storm. As of 2020, 35 percent of the global workforce are millennials, also known as Generation Y. By 2025, this figure will rise to 75 percent. In some of the advanced economies of Europe and North America, they're already the largest working cohort.
With internet access reaching the farthest corners of the world, a new kind of industrial revolution is reforming the work as we know it. As of 2019, more than 26 million workers in the United States alone - comprising 16 percent of the overall workforce - telecommuted to their jobs.
The rise of remote work, also known as telecommuting, is unstoppable and inevitable. In the United States alone, the number of remote workers skyrocketed by 159 percent between 2005 and 2017. In the meantime, by now, millennials are the largest working group in many parts of the world.
In the last decades, the world of work went through dramatic changes. Remote working, digital communication, and flexible hours make for an unprecedented modern workplace. At first blush, these developments might seem like they're making office buildings irrelevant.
According to research by Gartner, 20 percent of organizations will use smartphones in place of traditional physical access cards by 2020. Moreover, IHS Markit estimates that around 20 percent of currently installed access control readers will be mobile-capable by 2022.
The future of work is flexible: A third of the workforce in the US is now freelance. Many companies, including larger ones, are opening their doors to an alternative workforce composed of contractors, freelancers, gig workers, and crowd workers because of their ability to enhance organizational performance.
Workplaces have evolved from cubicles and private offices to open-plan layouts and shared spaces. Many workers feel cubicles and closed-door offices have been a hindrance to collaboration, so breaking walls down was a natural next step to make way for open-plan offices.
Rapid urbanization means cities around the world are denser and more expensive than ever before. With land at a premium, an urban future where businesses and individuals can thrive will require intelligent, efficient and flexible room designs that maximizes existing space.
Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, employees can often work away from the office nowadays, from a location best suited to their task. Vodafone Germany picked up on this trend and created a modern workplace in Düsseldorf for its 5,000 employees.