It’s easy to assume that the majority of office’s here still look something like the following:

But you would be wrong!

There are of course still many trading floors that operate this way with tonnes of paperwork and multiple screens on each desk. However, London like many of cities around the world are moving to a more collaborative working model.  It’s not unusual to see a corporate workplace like this in The City today.

What are the main differences apart from a few bicycles hanging from the ceiling? 

Gina Lassman, ex HR Manager at International Law Firm Simmons & Simmons says: “Everything has moved online, for example invoices, personnel records all used to be paper based but now everything is scanned and saved to the cloud.  More people started working from home and staff were given ‘Vasco Tokens’ which gives them the ability to log on from their home PC enabling people to work remotely when required.

More part time and flexible working arrangements were put in place and women were given the opportunity to work part time particular after coming back from maternity leave.

Open planned offices became more popular with the firm.  Offices used to be more enclosed with a few people working in each room.  Over the year’s office space changed with much more open planned structure leading to more collaborative working”.

In addition, the concept of community is very central to this theory. Working together, having a more laid back environment and being encouraged to bounce off of each other for ideas is extremely common and celebrated rather than frowned upon. People are more accepting of new technology, culture, design and the possibility of new and exciting endeavours.

Boardrooms are quickly changing from this:

To this:

Today, it’s common place to see a mixed boardroom of all ages from all backgrounds in a corporate workplace.  Staff bring their own laptops, mobiles and tablets. Tables could be made from metal, Lego, plastic, glass and many other materials. Chairs, lighting, wall design and technology all play a part in the evolving modern boardroom.

“Recent findings by index provider MSCI have found that organisations with a strong female influence on their boards perform 36% times more effectively than those without.

According to MSCI,  a “strong-female influence” is defined as having three or more female directors, or alternatively, a female CEO and one another female director. Average numbers of female board members vary dramatically around the world, with the likes of Jordan, where only 4% board positions are occupied by women, while in the UK, on average, 25% of board members are female” Source: http://www.sri-executive.com/news/females-in-the-boardroom/ 

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