How can we get people more engaged, more productive, and happier at work? Is technology part of the problem — and could it also be part of the solution?

Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft, imagines what might be possible if more organisations embraced the full, empowering potential of technology and encouraged a truly open, collaborative and flexible working culture. As an ‘envisioning officer’, Coplin is tasked with trying to predict what the worker of the future might need to make the most of their talents.He said: ‘I hope that the work of the future is something that is much more about the individual than it is about the organisation, so it’s where organisations empower the individual to be responsible for the contribution they make for the outcome of the company.’

The desk is dying, he added. ‘Most people work in an open plan office, which was genius back in the day when there wasn’t email and personal computers and if you wanted to get a team of people collaborating together. ‘Now, if you look at the reality of the open plan office, people sit in front of their computers and send emails to the person sat 12 inches away from them.’

Watch the video and read the full article “Work isn’t working: Microsoft ‘envisioner’ Dave Coplin on why the office must change”