The office watercooler days are long gone, and in its place are platforms like Slack, Toggle, and Facebook Messenger. With the rise of our increasingly mobile and connected relationships comes new ways of working. If we take a moment to look around us in any urban city, we’ll see the future of work all over: at our local coffee shop, brimming with entrepreneurs dialing clients, on the sidewalks, where teams are taking their walking status meeting, across open-office spaces, where employees roam freely. With these new standards for office culture, creating opportunities for professional relationships to develop and collaboration to occur is more integral than ever to an organization’s success.
According to a Google For Work Study released in 2016, 73% of employees think their organization would be more successful if they were able to work in a more flexible and collaborative way. As the needs and expectations of employees continue to evolve, companies are building and protecting spaces—virtually and in the office—to help colleagues connect, offer mentorship, and share expertise.