| | JUNE 2022MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8In MyOpinionBy Stephanie Biernbaum, Chief People Officer, HinesTECHNOLOGY OPTIMIZES EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN THE OFFICE OF THE FUTURESince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, much has changed in the world of work and real estate. Ideas that were once considered fundamentally immoveable--so set in stone that to question them would have seemed foolish--have crumbled as society has shifted, in many ways dramatically, toward very different ways of working and living."Going to the office," once an axiomatic fact for employees, is now an option for many workers. Any leadership team who wants employees back in the office knows that, in order to navigate this well, the office must offer an experience that is additive or better than what people can get at home and is worth the commute. In my role as the firm's Chief People Officer for a global real estate investor, developer, and operator, I am focused on evolving not only our own people processes, especially attracting, cultivating, and retaining talent, but also helping design a new industry standard for the role of office real estate.While the forced exodus did temporarily change the real estate landscape, time and distance made many stalwart remote-work supporters think twice. We now find ourselves at a crossroads, with people craving the physical and emotional connections with friends With technology so deeply embedded in our daily lives, the concept of "digital equity" is gaining traction, especially related to hybrid work modelsGlobally, in 2018 the executive search industry generated around 15.6 billion U.S. dollars in revenue ­ an increase of over 50 percent since 2012. The vast majority of executive search firms expect their industry's short-term growth to continueQuickbytesSource:www.statista.comand colleagues missing from their lives for months and, in some cases, more than a year. The solution, though, is not to simply bring those people back to the office but to use our properties as centers of creativity and community where culture and belonging thrive. We are accomplishing this by redesigning interior spaces, implementing new people policies around hybrid work and community building, and implementing enabling technology designed to transform the work experience.One divide we hope to conquer is a digital one. How can we equip our employees with the tools they need to be successful, and how can we ensure that we do so in an equitable manner? With technology so deeply embedded in
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