When the office becomes mobile. Following the example of the colossus, multinational and small companies, and now banks too, have embraced smart working.
The concept of the office is no longer a status symbol as it was in the past; today, in Europe, a quarter of the labour force is called “digital nomads”. A CBRE’s study (world leader of the real estate industry), has observed that in London banks the percentage of use of company desks is 65%, while other credit institutes (over 80%) have adopted shared desks, which have permitted to reduce costs and to work better. The forerunner of this mobile revolution is Bank of England’s chief, Marl Craney, who continuously changes his workstation among different departments.
Today’s keyword is flexibility. The workplace must be versatile, able to change and evolve both technologically and socially. Bank offices, so they say in the United States, could soon be shut down, everything will be run online and all employees will have their own workplace. Where? In one of the wide-spreading business centres.
Banks and insurance companies, especially foreign ones, strongly believe in this future. According to a recent IDG study, 54% of IT leaders of the finance sector believes that mobility is a priority.
Deutsche Bank, for example, has launched a new flexible work method all over the world; especially Hong Kong’s trading floor has been virtualised this way, and in case of emergency, employees can move to a new location and be active within a few minutes. This approach has already permitted to reduce 55% of electricity consumption and 89% of emissions of the headquarters in Frankfurt.