VOA新闻杂志2023--What Will Office of the Future Be Like?

What Will Office of the Future Be Like?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how people in the U.S. work.

Before the pandemic, only 5.7 percent of people worked from their homes. But a recent report from the business advisor¹ McKinsey & Company found that 58 percent of people worked from home at least one day a week in 2022.

Ryan Luby helped write the report. He said the office needs to change because the role of the workplace has changed.

Aditya Sanghvi is with the property business of McKinsey & Company. He said: "The office has suddenly become a choice. It's an option. And the office has to be better for someone than working from home and enduring² the commute³ to come into the office."

One change office spaces need is more focus on community in the workplace. "When you get to the office, if you're not engaging with anyone else, you might as well not be there," Luby said.

He added, "The office should be a place where you're doing group work."

Sanghvi added that, in the new workspace, people should feel like "there's no difference between whether or not someone's sitting with you in the office or somebody's [on] video."

The office of the future might even help workers with their personal responsibilities.

"One of the reasons that a lot of people work from home is that they have to pick up the kids or take care of the dog," Sanghvi said. "And so, what if there were [animal] care in the building? What if there was child care in the building?"

Sanghvi believes companies that own the office space should be more active in changing workspaces for the new way of life.

The U.S. General Services Administration⁴ (GSA) is the government agency⁵ that supervises⁶ federal⁷ buildings. The GSA has been a leading force in establishing what the office of the future will look like.

Chuck Hardy⁸ is GSA's chief architect. He supervises GSA's Workplace Innovation⁹ Lab, a 25,000-square-foot space inside the organization's headquarters¹⁰ in Washington, D.C.

"What we're trying to do is create a workplace and an environment that allows you to be as productive¹¹ as you can be without getting in the way. And that means a variety of spaces for a variety of the people that work for us," Hardy said.

The Workplace Innovation Lab will be open for one year. Federal workers can try out the latest in workplace furnishings and technology and then provide comments on their experience.

Some spaces in the lab look like traditional workspaces. Some spaces feel pleasant. Almost everything can be moved around. The air quality is controlled, and technology that is believed to be good for the environment is being tested.

Hardy said the office of the future needs three qualities. It should be well-designed, serve a purpose and feel pleasant.

All of this might mean that the office of the future could feel a little bit more like home.

Words in This Story

role–n. the part that a person or something plays in an activity or operation

option–n. one of several choices that can be made in a situation

endure–v. to suffer

focus–n. bring attention and thought to a subject, issue or problem

engage–v. to communicate or be involved with others in a meaningful way

variety–adj. different in size, amount, degree, or nature

architect–n. a person who plans, designs and supervises the building of structures

 

furnishings–n. the furniture, curtains, carpets, and decorations in a space

1 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

2 enduring   

a.持续的，持久的

参考例句：

• What is the reason for the game's enduring appeal? 这种游戏为什么具有经久不衰的吸引力呢？
• I could only feel pity for what they were enduring. 对他们所受的苦难我唯有同情而已。

3 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

4 administration   

n.经营，管理；行政，行政机关，管理部门

参考例句：

• Who is in charge of the administration of your company?你们公司的行政工作由谁负责？
• The teachers are responsible to the school administration.教师向学校行政负责。

5 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

6 supervises   

v.监督，管理( supervise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The group leader supervises a dozen workers. 组长管十二个工人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He makes the wines and supervises the vineyards. 他酿酒并管理葡萄园。 来自辞典例句

7 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。

8 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

9 innovation   

n.改革，革新，新观念，新方法，新发明

参考例句：

• There are all sorts of possibilities for technical innovation.技术革新的门道很多。
• An enterprise should encourage innovation.企业应鼓励创新。

10 headquarters   

n.司令部，指挥部；总部，总店

参考例句：

• Several great guns from the headquarters are coming to see us today.总部的几个大人物今天要来看我们。
• The bank has its headquarters in Pairs.这家银行的总行在巴黎。

11 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。