**3. Future workspace**

The modern workplace is almost unrecognisable from ten years ago. The 9–5 has been replaced with remote working, and corner offices and rigid banks of desks have made way for flexible multi-purpose spaces. The importance of workspace design and spatial features has recently been emphasised in corporate business literature, but the volume of literature on this topic available from peer-reviewed journals is still limited [12]. We are heading towards a future where more employees are working from home, and increasingly reliant on a digital workplace that can fit their needs.

The recent health crisis has made this clear. Re-establishing organisational culture will become a top priority for HR departments as organisations look to adopt more flexible working arrangements. Pre-COVID, many organisations used lunchrooms, office collaboration spaces, and conference rooms to promote idea sharing and organic conversations across titles and departments. Companies are now finding virtual colleague relationships are starting to polarise into common roles and sectors [16]. There will likely be a major shift towards hybrid working models that capitalise on the benefits of both remote and office working [9].

Managers as well as HR leaders should constantly plan and shape how their organisation can improve future workspace so that it is beneficial for the business and the employees [17]. The future workspace should support agile working of employees and manager [18]. De [19] emphasise the importance of involving end-users in planning and designing their workspace. Advancement in future workspace, technology, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) suggests new work design. Programs for skilling up for new jobs and for developing interfaces between human and machines must be rapid, flexible and tailored to maximise the potential value created by human and machines [20]. To plan the future workspace, it is recommended that HR managers involve line management and other stakeholders such as IT and other relevant staff members [21].

An employee's office, home, a third places such as a coffee shop can be seen as workspaces [22]. De Paoli and Ropo [19] state that is important to be innovative when planning workspace. Innovation is what agile is all about [23]. Agile is a framework and a working mind-set which helps respond to changing requirements. The concept of agile working revolves around empowering staff to work where, when and how they choose, to ensure they perform at their best. As organisations look to accelerate the pace of remote working in the foreseeable future, it is essential that to make a conscious effort to preserve their core values and emphasise building a workplace that puts people at the forefront of every decision [9]. With less visibility on employees, leaders and managers have to determine how to both monitor and measure productivity.HR leaders need to reassess and modify metrics for what performance looks like due to the new remote working in many companies [16]. New workspaces seem to be accompanying new challenges for HR and management.

#### **Practical recommendations to improve future workspace:**


#### **4. Engagement**

Humans have a basic need for belonging and connection. This fact will be even more so in the future world of work due to technology and man–machine challenges. A lack of interpersonal relationships can negatively impact our health, our ability to adjust, and overall well-being. These truths extend to the workplace. Employees want and need to build relationships at work. Personal connections with managers, leaders, coworkers, and customers lead to increased employee engagement and performance [24]. Gallup [25] defines an engaged employee as "those who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace". Engagement in the workplace has evolved considerably over the last decade. From remote work privileges to flexible hours, many of the benefits that were once viewed as benefits are now an expectation for the working world [26].

The HR leaders should engage with the line manger to improve overall performance [27]. Employee engagement can be a critical tool in helping organisations to respond rapidly to moving business environments, as well as playing a key role in

#### *The Future of HR DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96672*

growth and sustainability [28]. Traumatic events such as the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us the importance of embracing our humanity, including the need for compassion in the workplace. It is therefore important to acknowledge that we are all going through challenges, some shared and some unique, that benefit from others' empathy [29]. Cleveland et al. [30] found that the importance of infusing HR with a psychological concern for human dignity results in respect for humanity at work, as well as advocacy for employees and their communities.

Schultz [10] found that meaningful engagement is essential and not mere engaging for the sake of engaging. This can be ascribed to the fact that managers and HR leaders will have to invest in people and guide them into discovering purpose and making a difference in the future workplace [10]. This is of utmost importance in order to ensure productivity in the future world of work. When it comes to measuring and tracking engagement, most companies still evaluate engagement on an annual, or longer, basis using traditional survey techniques [31]. While these practices have provided a wealth of insight into the dimensions and impact of engagement, it is time to rethink how we are measuring engagement and, more importantly, how the same digital tools can be applied towards improving the productivity, retention, and satisfaction of the workforce. The employee engagement is positively correlated to level of leadership engagement and top management should therefore have a vision and commitment [32].

Technology alone cannot drive employee engagement. Technology does not create a safe space for culture. It does other things, like support connection, communication and collaboration [33]. It is therefore the role of the HR leader to drive engagement and support to management in order to ensure appropriate engagement. To create a more engaged, worker-focused organisation, you need to align around a common, unified vision that clearly explains the problem and the way you want to solve it [33]. It looks like there could be a shift from engagement to experience, and employees will expect a truly personalised employee journey, from first point of contact right through to their continued employment [28].

Dash [5] proposes ongoing employee surveys to sustain and engage employee participation in building the organisation's desired digital culture. PWC [9] agrees by stating that focusing on employee engagement through pulse and satisfaction surveys is a great way to gauge their experience and ideas, and get their recommendations on how best to transition to the new normal. PWC [9] also states that by introducing diversity, equality, and inclusion policies and programmes will help support organisational culture and create an environment that promotes trust, unity, empathy, and engagement. In the future, the concept of engagement, which gauges passion, commitment, and effort, will give way to employee experience, which is the journey that an employee takes in an organisation [6].

**Practical recommendations to improve engagement:**

