Latest headlines: Mark Coxon on saving the office park, Sara Abrons on watching 2,000 rAVe product videos, plus news from BenQ and more
July 15, 2022 | Volume: 13 | Issue: 13
If you’re an employer working on getting employees back to the office, Mark Coxon thinks you should first consider the type of work that needs to be done. Rather than sending them back because you’re paying rent on your office building, think instead about what you’re asking employees to do. Is it more useful to have them do it from home? Is it something that makes sense to send them back for? According to Mark, “because I said so” is no longer a good enough reason for employees right now.
Also, Sara Abrons wrote an article after watching all the rAVe product videos from ISE and InfoComm. What were the trends in the market, you ask? She’s the person who would know! Check out Part 1 of her article for more.
“We need to get back to the office because … we have an existing investment in real estate or we have all of this furniture and equipment. Or, the latest version: We need to save the local restaurants and retailers that are adjacent to the empty office.” The problem with all of these arguments is that they are based on investments made by companies that may or may not still be relevant today. I’m not saying no one needs an office or that there’s no reason to go back to the office park. In fact, I believe that there are several potential gaps in the fully remote work experience that can be bridged with the physical office. Yet, none of the arguments above confer an advantage or reward for the worker. They are arguments based on sunk costs that try to infer guilt on employees for not returning.
I didn’t go to ISE in Barcelona this year, or InfoComm in Las Vegas just a few weeks later, but as the editor in charge of video titling for rAVe [PUBS] for both, I did watch pretty much every video the team shot from both show floors, which was about 2,000 videos. Although certainly not as fun as attending in person, it’s a pretty efficient way to digest an enormous amount of technology as shown and marketed on a trade show floor, and it’s given me a unique insight into what the industry is doing.
