Commonwealth Bank, as well as its national kin ANZ and Suncorp Metway, have embraced some interesting workplace developments, borrowed from innovations in Dutch offices, to lower costs and increase worker productivity, without embracing the ever-present model of the cubicle to do so.
Commonwealth in particular has facilitated the change by equipping thousands of employees with brand new laptops, eschewing desktop workstations in favor of relatively minimal, but still highly functional, ultralight laptops. Rather than working on immobile desk machines, or potentially claustrophobic netbooks, the bank facilities are equipped with “docking stations,” which feature LCD screens and other peripherals which allow the laptops to function as full-featured desktop machines, without having a static machine available at all times, but used far less often.
Interestingly, Commonwealth Bank found that only 45% of desks were occupied at any given time, thus cutting in half the worth of the many computers they purchase for their employees. By allowing mobile devices and augmentation devices such as LCD screens, the company can allow employees to have their own machine, capable of a variety of uses, accompany them wherever they might need to go. And because so few computers are actually necessary, there are only enough docking stations for 80% of the employees; but if they choose to work on their laptops anyway (as anyone switching from one place to another is likely to do), such a gap will not prove insufficient.
The remainder of the workplace has been altered as well, offering quiet areas for individual work, as well as communal areas for team participation, featuring presentation screens and cafe-style settings to allow for more group-oriented tasks.
The purpose of the shift is not simply a cost-cutting measure, but intended also to shift the workplace from a managerial style of control to one of employee empowerment, whose contributions are valued, rather than catalogued and potentially demerited. This will help attract particularly idealistic employees, such as recent university graduates, who may have higher expectations of how enjoyable a workplace should be.
In the long run, it is likely that many of these laptops could be replaced with tablet computers, or even in some cases with the mobile phones of the employees themselves. As long as the machines are able to dock, they will be capable of running whatever program they contain, but ported to a full-size LCD screen for maximum functionality. Wireless keyboards, especially if found ubiquitously throughout a corporate campus, would entirely replace the need for traditional laptops in such an environment; though because many individuals still prefer the omnipresent keyboard, laptops are not likely to disappear altogether anytime soon. Still, the transition toward increasingly mobile devices, such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, is going to continue, especially as the vast majority of employees will be able to enter the workforce and the workplace with their own machines, a trend that has already occurred in smaller businesses that do not provide extra machines for employees.
The cost of computing has undergone quite a revolution in recent decades, and the continued growth of mobile devices and subsequent expectations of mobility are likely to have a profound effect on the computer budgets of offices and homes; though if the trends continue, they™re likely to be better for employees and employers alike. The developments seen at Commonwealth Bank and others are likely to set the tone of future development in such categories.
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