Do you know what your workplace will look like in 2030? Well, if you thought dogs running around, tightly stacked cars, a ball pit, smart toilets and a slide, then you might be on to something.
When looking to the future, most work-based predictions revolve around robots and the fear that one day they will take our jobs.
We will be so reliant on their automated expertise that we, as a species, will be unable to earn a living. As illogical as it sounds, these fears persist and, whenever we cover something along those lines, we get a marked response.
But how about something different, something more amenable to our needs, something more comfortable?
Then take a look at what your office will look like in just 15 years, with the 2030 edition of your drab, PC-filled row of cubicles replaced with toilets that tell you how healthy you are, VR games rooms and a super-fun happy slide to get you from the sunny rooftop relaxation area right down to the hologram-hosted reception.
Theme Hospital-esque
Communications company Plusnet is behind this Theme Hospital-esque look at what we’re likely to consider the norm at the end of the next decade.
You will get to the office in a driverless car, which can be stored in a carpark stacking system to save room. Your fingerprint will get you in the front door before a holographic receptionist (female, of course) greets you.
According to Plusnet, futurist Peter Cochrane speculates that “fully-automated robotic receptionists, security scanning and real-time behavioural analysis would also include subliminal lie detection and ‘intent prediction’”.
A ball pit, a slide
To your right, you may notice a blurry mess where colleagues shoot out from a slide and into a ball pit – that will become more clear as we take a step up through the floors.
Your office will have a whole new look, with standing chairs and portable workspaces the way of the future. To be honest, plenty of this floor makes sense. We had a go on some of those types of chairs last year and they’re remarkably comfortable.
Glen Hiemstra, founder and CEO of Futurist.com, said: “The most radical future office forecast is that offices will have no furniture at all – simply flexible nanotech that can be formed into whatever you need at the moment – something to sit on, a desk, or a conference table.”
Meeting rooms will be full of holograms and telepresence robots, with that trend starting to replace conference calls, and even Skype, already.
Smart eating and more
The kitchen will have a fridge that responds to your touch, only revealing your food – lunch security at its finest. While a 3D printer will draw on the spirit of Star Trek replicators.
In the bathroom “toilets will become greener and smarter”, with compost replacing plumbing and readings from your “input” telling company doctors if you’re ill. Yep.
A glorious descent
The recreation room will be full of VR headsets and generally look like Moe’s bar in the episode of The Simpsons when Lisa gets married.
The roof garden will let staff grow vegetables and all that’s left is to whizz down the slide, into the ball pit, to confuse another person entering the premises and your day is done! Click on the below image to view it in a larger format.
Future office image via Shutterstock
