Your weekday routine is probably filled with a long commute, numerous meetings, too many cups of coffee, a food coma, and a long commute back home. Here are four ways your 9-5 workday will change in 5 years!
Your commute will be a breeze
A friend told me she turned down a dream job because of the nightmarish commute. Did you know that the average one-way commute time in the U.S. is 26.1 minutes? Or that we spend almost $115,000 on commuting over 10 years? Not to mention the stress being stuck in traffic.
But what if a self-driving car drives you to work, allows you to nap on the road, picks the best route to minimize time, and costs you less than a bus/train fare? Most car manufacturers plan to have self-driving cars by 2020-2021. Tesla already has cars on the highway that are self-driving. But there are still lots of regulation issues, and the first self-driving vehicles on the road will likely be luxury cars. So expect the robot taxi to become a reality as we get closer to 2030.
Teleport yourself to any meeting
It is no doubt that we live in a world of meetings. An average employee spends 5+ hours per week in meetings and 4+ hours per week preparing for them.
Thanks to virtual meeting tools like Zoom, we can be more productive through video meetings. But it’s still not the same as an in-person meeting, especially for brainstorming sessions. However, new tech startups like Spatial uses the power of augmented reality and allows team members from around the world to collaborate as if they were in the same room. Due to the high cost and the bulky headset, VR/AR hasn’t quite taken off yet. But according to Capgemini, over 50% of enterprises are planning to explore AR/VR within the next three years.
Less time in the office
Millennials have dramatically changed the workplace. Unlike previous generations, Millennials are constantly changing jobs, looking for more creative and purposeful roles, and valuing the flexibility to work anywhere, anytime over anything else. In fact, 70% of the global workforce work remotely at least once a week.
As Millennials enter leadership roles and Gen Z enters the workforce, expect the trend to continue. Time to start finding your next spot for a day or two away from the office for work.
Happier workplace
Finding the right office is just as important as finding the right home. We spend almost a third of our time in offices, it’s where ideas happen, where aha moments happen, where we build a career. In short, finding the right workspace will make us happier and more productive.
For freelancers and small teams, they can find great spaces designed specifically for them by coworking companies. But for larger teams, searching for the right private office is not as straightforward. Many are still relying on Craigslist to search for their next office space. Long gone are the days sifting through spammy posts on Craigslist as companies like Birdnest offers an online platform of beautiful offices spaces powered by AI, making it easy for startups and small business owners to find their dream office in no time.