New Work is the mantra of modern corporate management concerning working conditions and environments, and by now, it’s actually a bit of an “old hat”. Thanks to technological progress, our work has become more flexible, digital, and collaborative, but also faster. The speed is further accelerated thanks to the latest AI tools. However, not all companies have properly implemented New Work standards or found the right answers to the changes in the workplace brought about by AI.
New Work requires, first and foremost, a new culture of collaboration, trust, leadership, and fairness. It also needs new spaces that meet the changed requirements—more collaboration areas, more room for new solutions, more flexibility, but also more retreat zones for ubiquitous video calls or digital brand spaces that make the brand equally tangible for global remote workers as for employees at the company’s headquarters.
Even if companies have done their homework regarding employer branding, corporate culture, and the strategic development of their digital and physical work environments, external factors like wars, energy crises, inflation, and supply chain disruptions are causing more and more employees to suffer under economic and geopolitical pressure. The result: only 14 percent of respondents reported a strong attachment to their employer. According to this year’s Gallup Engagement Index, this marks a historic low. The negative consequences are clearly measurable: the loss of working hours due to mental illness has reached an all-time high. Zoom fatigue, depression, chronic exhaustion, anxiety—health is the paramount issue for the future of work.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that 7 out of 10 Generation Z candidates consider health promotion measures “crucial” for the attractiveness of a company, according to a study by the University of Bamberg. These and other surveys indicate a trend that companies must follow. In the end, it’s not just about a “happy” workplace but principally about a “healthy” workplace.
When it comes to health, the Blue Zones show how healthy living is possible. The Blue Zones are areas where people live longer and healthier lives than the average population. These regions are spread globally and share commonalities in lifestyle, diet, social structures, and other factors that contribute to increased life expectancy. From these factors, we have developed comprehensive solutions for the future of work, based on the Health Performance Indicators from Harvard University, which we use instead of traditional KPIs for the design and implementation of work environments. Our credo, therefore, is: we don’t just need a new way of working, but above all, a healthy one: from New Work to Blue Work.
