Since the dawn of industrialization, work and specialized workspaces have been inseparable entities. Every worker – whether owner, employee or supervisor – went to a designated geographical location where cogs of the machine were assembled to produce goods or services. Lack of access to this geographic location – whether due to distance, resource crunch, injury, or disability – had little to no recourse; not being at their workspace, for most, equaled lost income or missed wages.
In the wake of the fourth industrialization movement, geographically co-located office spaces are starting to become outmoded. Several functions of the traditional workspace have been co-opted by remote working tools, with much greater success – including meetings, ideation and documentation, and flow-state operations. There is no viable reason for these activities to be carried out in a shared physical space when cloud-based applications, video conferencing tools, and Virtual Reality ecosystems exist.
VR workspaces, in particular, are covering more ground every year as adoption rates for requisite software and hardware soar. Immersive tech may as well fully replace the physical office as we know it, in the near future. While this paradigm shift will occur with its own set of teething issues, one thing is for certain: inclusive workplaces are bound to become a norm.
D&I Laws and Disability
The inclusive workplace movement came about when active empathy turned to advocacy. Increasing awareness of the asymmetrical distribution of wealth and opportunities has spurred diversity drives across the globe. Detailed mandates on inclusive hiring and training practices have been formulated, implemented, and talked about extensively. However, many blind spots remain – the most glaring being the exclusion of persons with disabilities.
Workplace inclusivity tends to focus on making room for people across significant cultural and gender-based divides. Yet, according to a Harvard Business Review Report, only 4% of the surveyed organizations included disabled persons in their Diversity and Inclusivity endeavors.
However, people with physical handicaps constitute 15% of the world’s population. Something as basic as an absence of ramps at the office entrance, or a manager’s unwillingness to oversee a remote team, can condemn a disabled person to job insecurity and wealth inequality.
From a purely economic standpoint as well, poor physical or digital infrastructure translates to underutilized talent and diminished output. People with disabilities are likely to bear the brunt of this underperformance, as their needs are most likely to be overlooked. This leads to even lower hiring rates and abysmal attrition, creating a self-perpetuating system where people with disabilities are neither adequately represented nor accommodated.
Virtual Workspaces – designed for inclusivity
Assuming low performance from disabled employees as a default is an antiquated and unfair conclusion, harming people and businesses alike. Most often, the issues are systemic.
In the last two years, the pandemic has revealed many drawbacks of the physical workspace, with the difficulty of access – due to distance, if not a disability – being one of them. Employees have proven that remote working is as productive as working in offices, if not more. The question now is: what can we do to make remote working scalable and sustainable?
The future of working in immersive VR environments is already mid-swing and shows immense promise for a truly diverse world. Not only can VR-powered workspaces do away with overhead expenses, they can also go the extra mile in removing hurdles for persons with disabilities. Through virtual training modules and seamless co-working across geographies, Virtual Reality can significantly improve working conditions for people regardless of their physical abilities. This added layer of flexibility will level the playing field for people with disabilities, shifting the conversation from surface-level representation to true inclusion and empowerment
The Future of Working: Immersive VR
Last September, Facebook unveiled the Infinite Office Demo, an Oculus Rift drove Virtual Reality office where users can access a whole host of integrated programs without disconnecting from their surroundings. With this development, we are tapping into the very reason why physical workspaces were considered irreplaceable for so long – Compartmentalisation. Visual cues play a huge role in preparing us for tasks; with immersive VR, there is no longer a need for a change in location to change one’s state of mind.
The biggest challenge facing the mass adoption of Infinite Office is the VR headset itself. While Virtual Reality is an exciting possibility for many, the widespread use of headsets has been sluggish. Expense, lack of space for usage, and potential physical discomfort are some of the main reasons behind this reticence. Taking this unease into account, platforms like NextMeet focus on providing pan-device accessibility – enabling users to convene virtually using PCs, headsets, and mobile devices alike. Maintaining a diversity of access points is crucial to ensuring true inclusivity in the workplace, and 3D virtual experiences are making that possible. When the portal to your office exists in your own home, every place in the world becomes accessible to work.
