The ingratiation of technology and social media into every aspect of our lives has led to the entanglement of business and leisure cultures, which we’re apparently calling “bleisure”. This is particularly evident in the office spaces of the large technology companies that are shaping the way we live and work.
All Systems Commercial Fitouts has created an infographic to demonstrate how the innovations of tech companies such as Google and Facebook are revolutionising your 9-5.
Steff joined the HRreview editorial team in November 2014. A former event coordinator and manager, Steff has spent several years working in online journalism. She is a graduate of Middlessex University with a BA in Television Production and will complete a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Westminster in the summer of 2015.
OMG can we please stop talking about American “Tech Giants like Google and Facebook” they are so irrelevent for like maybe 99% of us working. I’d really like to know that the doctor performing my laparoscopy can take a nap behind a screen in the theatre or that the nurse checking my blood pressure can call me from home and ask if I can strap my arm a bit tighter. Oh yes and when I get mugged in the street I do hope my friendly police officer uses a coloured bike to get to me and then comforts me with a cup cake! The only reason “Tech Giants” provide places for people to sleep and free food is because the poor sops working for them never get to go home. What happens when they have kids does Google provide a school, after-school rugby and play dates? Does Facebook send someone round to check on your elderly mother whose just been diagnosed with dementia? Ridiculous!
I’ve heard it said that in the future there will be two types of jobs: ones where people tell computers what to do, and ones where it’s the other way round. Only one of these will be well paid.
I agree Alyson that many organisations, and especially the public sector, will probably be slow to catch up on the trends set by Facebook and Google. However, for private sector organisations that regularly use the companies’ services, the change in social environment outside of work needs to be replicated inside the work environment, to some extent. The rise of highly-skilled workers also plays a large part in this change, since they can take their work with them wherever they go and can choose to work in very non-standard office environments.