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.
“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:
