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I
n September I sat and watched
as Steve Munroe of Hubud
singlehandedly made a room full
of people wish that they could
pick up their belongings, and work
from a Jungle in Bali. Steve gave a
presentation in which he eluded to
the mysterious digital nomad and
the even more elusive millennial. A
digital nomad does not see their job
as a restriction to where they should
be in the world and uses technology
to leverage this belief. The digital
nomad movement is almost moving
in tandem with the growing millennial
workforce, both of whom value
experiences over possessions and
share a distaste in being static. They
are inspired by movement and want
a life which revolves around ‘being’
rather than ‘doing’.
There is no question that
technology has broken down
countless barriers in work and social
aspects of our daily life. It is now
possible to talk or host video chats
with anyone, anywhere at any time.
We can watch live streams of events
across the globe as they unfold,
transfer money, order taxis, order
food, even order a private jet from our
mobile phones and yet we still have
to be sat behind our desk to write a
simple report on word. According to
Google’s ‘Workplace 2020’ survey,
52% of respondents are able to access
all the information they require for
work through mobile devices, putting
forward a strong case for increased
levels of flexible working.
An eye opening fact mentioned at
the conference is that on average we
spend 74 minutes a day commuting
to and from work. That works out
as being around 12 weeks of our
year spent just travelling to the
office. The millennial generation, a
generation who account for more
of our workforce by the day, value
experiences over anything else. It
must be recognised that very soon the
majority of our workforce will be made
up of individuals who no longer accept
a job forcing them to ‘experience’
12 weeks of the year travelling to an
office and on average spend 90,000
hours of their entire life.
A revolution is happening and
it involves work, the worker and
the workplace. The most visible of
these changes being the workplace.
Some would argue that the physical
office itself is broken, however I
believe that it is simply the meaning
of the office which is ‘broken’. The
office will become a drop in centre
for those non-routine tasks that
require the social intelligence and
creativity to solve them, rather than
Work Anywhere
By Rory Young,
Occupier
Representation,
Global Tech Team
Millennials
want a life
which revolves
around ‘being’
rather than
‘doing’
Hubud, Bali’s first co-working space
CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
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FUTURE OF WORK