When COVID-19 hit, everyone had to rapidly adapt to new ways of working without a playbook. Companies had a choice: panic or pivot. Those that embraced this as an opportunity to accelerate forward are prepared to flourish; those that panicked or tried to continue down the paths they’d set out on are struggling. But this is only the beginning of the changes to come. When disruption happens, as it always will, we need new guides and maps to help navigate opportunities amid the chaos. Jeff will present the key issues, critical choices, and potential pitfalls that must be on everyone’s radar.

What are the strategies that companies and organisations in New York are adopting to bounce back from the coronavirus and what is the impact on commercial real estate.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated multiple workplace transformation trends that were already well underway before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Workplace trends such as smart workplace technology integration, human experience enablement as well as the emergence of diverse ‘hybrid workplace’ behaviours – these workplace trends have now rapidly gained greater adoption to becoming mainstream as we enter 2022.  Our panel will explore the emerging “Intelligent + Experiential” Workplace and what we can expect for the near term and longer term as we shape the “Future of Work”

Accenture will occupy the top eight floors of One Manhattan West, bringing together in one location its more than 3,000 New York City-based employees and full breadth of capabilities. At the forefront of workplace design, the new space will provide a flexible, configurable environment that enables Accenture’s people and clients to work and collaborate in new ways, and will accommodate further growth as its business expands.

New Research from the WORKTECH Academy. More than 18 months on from the outbreak of the pandemic, employee expectations of work and workplace have significantly shifted and organisations are left with a blank canvas to redefine their workplace experience. A new report by Vecos in partnership with WORKTECH Academy explores what those new expectations are and how the experience is likely to change for employees and building managers alike in the future.

The purpose of the office has changed. Hybrid Working is the term on everyone's lips but for many, big questions remain unanswered; How do you bring the workforce back into the office? and What should that office look like? Creating a truly effective workplace has always required a perfect balance between people, place and technology. Given this most recent and dramatic global shift in the way we work, how do we now best drive communication, motivation, engagement with the right facilities, tech, tools to work, think and collaborate.

In this panel we will be examining some of the most prominent challenges facing corporate real estate identified in the latest research from Condeco and WORKTECH Academy. It will explore the different 'routes to revival' approaches real estate leaders are taking to return to the office. The research, entitled Condeco Conversations, found that learning and innovation, experience and collaboration, and culture and wellbeing are among the biggest casualties of COVID-19. Organizations now have to rethink and recalibrate their strategies and workplace environments to facilitate new ways of working.

COVID-19 has shed new light on age-old problems - social inequity and a lack of attention to our overall wellbeing. The build environments that we live, work, and play in impacts each of us in various ways, and we can help address the issue. To truly design space that is inclusive it’s important to understand how space effects people from various perspectives. But as advocates for the build environment, we can make a difference. We need to begin with understanding that we all experience things differently, so we can design environments that creating welcoming spaces to improve our wellbeing.

Who now “owns” the way an organization works? How are internal stakeholders and leaders, placed to make decisions for the present, now filled with ever-changing context, mandates and information into the unknown but undoubtedly new future? We will share the story of a major client with businesses in US and Canada, exploring their two approaches.

In the age of the “anywhere office”, technology will play a more vital role than ever. It is now crucial for businesses to understand how people are using workspaces and implement technologies that will keep teams connected, organized, safe and ultimately enhance their experience and productivity. Our experts will shed light on some of the key technology innovations that are transforming how people work.

After decades of hype and sci-fi fantasies, artificial intelligence is leaping out of research labs and into the center of our lives. Automation doesn’t just change our jobs. It shapes our entire human experience, with AI and algorithms influencing the TV shows we watch, the music we listen to, the beliefs we hold, and the relationships we form. And while the age-old debate over whether automation will destroy jobs rages on, an even more important question is being ignored: How can we be happy, successful humans in a world built by and for machines?