Before COVID-19 hit and swayed us with its detrimental effects, how many of your colleagues had attended a video conference regularly? How many regular employees worked from their home apart from the office? The answer would be very few.
However, the pandemic had given the opportunity to re-invent the workspace. Already many organizations have started alchemizing the work from home for their employees. The result is two-fold. Almost 70% of the people find remote work advantageous, while the others will rush to the regular office life once the situation is under control.
We can denote two types of workplaces as a physical and digital workplace. Are they both the same or do they have significant differences? Let’s find out.
1. Team management
Irrespective of your workplace, managing the team well is essential. Here trust plays a pivotal part, which builds through clarity. It differs between physical and digital workplaces.
While working in a physical workplace, clarity can be built with normal conversations, followed by working together. For example, you can chat with your colleague during a coffee break. Discussing other issues with your colleague apart from work will help you to stand out as trustworthy.
On the other hand, the digital workplace’s clarity comes from good communication and setting expectations. Tools play a significant role to promote connectivity, along with providing visibility. Maintaining good communication with the team through video meetings, email or text chat leads to a productive work culture. Setting a caring tone for your team members or appraising their performance will help you to stand out from the crowd.
2. Digital tools and their usage
Digital tools are an inalienable part of the physical workplace. It adds adaptability and flexibility for the entire team, followed by enabling quick transitions between team members. Additionally, it offers an easy connection with the digital workplace while meeting with the clients.
On the other hand, the usage of digital tools is secondary in a physical workplace. Definitely, good tools are always helpful but there is an option to do things manually to keep the entire team organized if there are any shortcomings in software. Else, you can ask anyone for the right information.
The tools you are using should have the space and functionality for every piece of information. Additionally, they should include reliable communication channels. In a digital workplace, tools should have the visibility to facilitate problem-solving. Additionally, the tools you have chosen can make the difference between success and failure.
3. Meetings
Meeting in the physical workplace is organic. It tends to make things mellifluous. All team members have their own ideas which they present on the table. Each point gives clarity about the ongoing discussion. Therefore, the confluence of team members’ ideas helps to build up a natural energy source. It helps the fellow team members to come together, followed by working on a shared goal. If you are feeling the absence of energy, then you can discuss it with the team again. It’s all possible in the physical workplace, which itself has a contribution to the meeting’s success.
On the contrary, meetings in the digital workplace may feel forced, especially when the team members aren’t accustomed to virtual meetings. You may need to deal with the scheduling challenges and with technology which is not the same case for the physical workplace. However, a pro of the digital workplace is it gives the teams a sense of connectedness, followed by building clarity around the most complex issues. Additionally, virtual meetings allow more people to participate with their own ideas.
Unique workspaces are a new addition for committing the meetings during these COVID-laden situations. They have all the amenities which business owners are looking for. According to an entrepreneur, “ unique workspaces are the best option to meet with a plethora of talents and to accept their notions about work accordingly. Not only that, but you can also share your own ideas.”
4. Communication
Communication is the lynchpin to building a good rapport between the team members. In a physical workplace, you can interact with your fellow team members in person irrespective of the glitches caused by a slow internet connection. The cons of digital workplace communication like talking over one another at once or unmuting their mics unnecessarily raised the importance of physical workplace communication.
Digital workplace communication needs to be more deliberate in order to gain clarity. It needs the proper combination of email and collaboration tools. On the other hand, the management teams should also set the expectations around availability, tones, and response time. Undoubtedly, there is a challenge in digital communication that can be mitigated with flexibility.
5. Productivity
Productivity is the main perimeter that denotes the succession of any completed task. Consequently, it plays an important role in terms of business roles. Experts also emphasize the same for achieving greater clarity and agility while working.
In a physical workplace, a worker is busy with many tasks which include meeting smaller and larger goals. The management team measures productivity based on the task numbers completed in a given amount of time. Workers may complete their task in that given time either by sitting on their computers, attending meetings, or sending/receiving emails. Many distractions and other non-important tasks are there, but if a worker stays busy with their own work: they are considered to be productive.
On the other hand, the productivity of the digital workspace is measured by objectives rather than tasks. Greater responsibility comes from objective-focused work for the digital workplace. This is known as self-management which works best for remote workers.
Takeaway
Regardless of whether you are working from a digital workspace or a physical workspace, you need to understand the differences, which you have already learned. However, we have a few furnished office space recommendations for you. It will help you to give your productivity a boost by meeting with different types of people.
1. Excella
If you are looking for the most-affordable coworking space in Pune, this could be your ultimate choice. They offer creative work environments which may fit your requirement. For more information, visit their website now.
2. Zioks
Zioks has all the amenities anyone is looking for. It’s a coworking space in Kolkata, that has already received many positive reviews from a diversified range of workers. They believe in “ Work together, learn together”. You can reach out to the admins for a quick booking.
A collective working environment to nurture yourself and to interact with the supremely-talented working enthusiasts. InQinnovinatinal has a fully-functional workspace in Kochi to meet your needs. For more information, visit their website now.
