New Ericsson study sheds light on employees’ expectations about future workplace

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink the future of workplaces. Already, many firms have embraced the work from home culture. But what is next? A new Ericsson report sheds light on what white-collar employees expect from the future workplace.

In the latest Ericsson IndustryLab study, The Dematerialized Office, covers early adopter white-collar employees in 16 countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico, India, and Japan. Over 8,400 white-collar workers were surveyed.

“The IndustryLab report, The dematerialized office explores white-collar employees user perspective on the future virtual workplace using Augmented reality and Virtual reality technology interacting with our senses of sight, sound, taste, smell and touch to be a reality by 2030,” said the company on its website.

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According to the report, half of the respondents said they want a digital workstation that gives them a full-sense presence at work, from anywhere. They also hope firms will help employees improve their home office environment.

Another takeaway from the report, quite obvious though, nearly 6 in 10 employees foresee an increase in online meetings. They also stressed the need for evolving digital meetings so that they can become as effective as the physical meetings.

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The internet of senses will most likely be used for marketing and sales, with 59% saying that spatial video and 50% saying digital temperature will be used to have more immersive engagements with customers by 2030, said the report.

While 66% think that by 2030, technology will enable them to sense when a colleague is upset, that also means their employer will know when they themselves are upset, added the report.

“During this COVID-19 isolation, people everywhere are rediscovering the importance of the smells and the flavours and the sheer physicality of the locations they normally frequent and do business in. In fact, the pandemic has created a tipping point for what white-collar workers expect of the future digital office,” says Dr Michael Björn, Head of Research Agenda, Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab, and author of the report.

“Office work will not go back to the way it was before the pandemic. Instead, employees will spend more time working digitally and, for this reason, drive the need for future technologies on a scale and at a pace that was unimaginable only a year ago.”

You can read the full report here.