Collab Tools & Flexible Working Not Just for Millennials

It’s not just millennials that want to take advantage of more flexible working arrangements

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Logmein Flexible Working Collaboration for all
Collaboration

Published: September 19, 2019

Rene Millman

Every generation in the workplace is looking to use collaboration tools to work more flexibly, not just the millennials, according to a futurist.

Speaking at a press event in London by LogMeIn, Theo Priestley, a technology futurist and chief marking officer at WFS Technologies, said that despite numerous reports pointing to the majority of millennials actively seeking out collaborative tools to work with, workers of all ages want this increased flexibility.

“I see people of my age, adopting the technologies as well, wanting to because they have their own agenda; they want to enjoy the flexibility that the other generations have,” he said.

Theo Priestly
Theo Priestley

“When we have discussions around generations, wanting collaborative software and wanting flexible working spaces. It’s not just one generation are talking about this, every generation wants to take advantage of this,” he added.

Priestly said that when talking about the use of collaborative tools in the workplace, there shouldn’t be a segmentation of products and attitudes, “it kind of goes across the board”.

He said that we are going though “a bit of a weird transition period for us in the future of work”.

“Some of the workforce stuck with really old antiquated ideas and tools. The other half of the workforce actually wants to work remotely, more flexibly, and have tools available for them, to them to actually manage that,” he said.

More talk about sustainability

He said that the industry needs to talk more about the sustainability impact of using collaborative software. He pointed to research that found that 30 million tonnes of CO2 could be eliminated by allowing people more flexible ways of working and including telepresence and telecommunications, in your office environment. He said:

“So rather than having people commute to the office, if you allowed them flexible working, you can actually drop your carbon footprint as an organisation,”

“The way we are in terms of sustainability, in terms of climate impact and change, this will actually be a big driving force in adopting collaborative tools in the workplace.”

Priestley added that all generations and particularly the younger generation entering the workforce will be looking for companies that are sustainable and take corporate responsibility seriously and wanting to join that company.

“So that I see that as a message starting to come through. And something which is driven home as part of collaboration in general.”

More lateral communication

Priestley said that collaboration will impact the hierarchical environment of most companies in the future as it opens up the enterprise in terms of information. In such environments information flows downwards.

“There is a trend called lateral communication, which actually just means information cuts across the organisation. I see collaboration software opening that those lines of communication up, so rather than dealing with someone in your silo and just acting on the information to do your job, the way we work is starting to involve smaller teams across the organisation.”

 

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