6 Ideas for Commute Worthy Offices
The skilled workforce demands it.
The workforce has undergone an awakening concerning where and how they work, written by Ann Hoffman, March 17, 2022
As the speed of change is accelerating all around us, we are called to rethink the workplace in the context of new expectations regarding how we prefer to work. As the workforce has undergone an awakening concerning where and how they work, it’s clear now that personal preference is the key. Investing in a more dynamic space to answer these updated needs would be better framed as a commitment to a competitive edge rather than a costly expense. Moving forward, a complete and unique hybrid model of distributed work for each organization will be formed, addressing physical, digital, and psychological considerations.
The New Rules are as follows:
Mobile, Adjustable Furniture to empower users with greater control of where and how they work. Include rolling charging stations and adjustable height stations.
Reconfigure Offices to create non-dedicated and reservable rooms. Mobile filing cabinets that lock give the reserver a safe place to stow belongings.
Adaptive Conference Rooms for varying group sizes, or to integrate remote and on-site users. Replace the elongated table with swivel chairs that include a tablet arm, for easier viewing of screens.
Bonus Technology in furniture, like built-in ports or movable laptop stands which enables greater productivity.
Creature Comforts that ease fatigue. Cushioned rugs, natural-light lamps and indoor plants were once considered non-essential, but these hospitable touches reduce work-related stress.
Non-traditional Work Zones that cater to spontaneous collaboration. Ensure cafes and lounges allow staff to re-charge electronics or plug into ports, for impromptu teamwork.
Applying these new principles to our offices now, it’s clear that the back-to-work crowd is showing up with new expectations. Commute-worthy settings and features are the ultimate draws, but we must start with the basic comforts that people have become accustomed to while working from home.
Envision an Agile Office Landscape
We need to abandon the open landscape without visual breaks; sightlines that travel the length of an entire floor plate are psychologically tiring. We should envision the office landscape as a series of sections or neighborhoods, bifurcated with pierced dividers, open shelving modules, soft panels, or mobile walls. These moveable elements allow organizations to respond to agile groupings, making these team neighborhoods feel more like rooms, ultimately replicating a more intimate atmosphere that users previously had in their homes. .
Investing in furniture that can be moved as desired can work to merge the needs of facilities managers and the teams they serve. Many furniture manufacturer partners have been quick to respond to a more agile, tech-connected landscape. Already in production are new models of mobile tables, carts, charts and easels, connectivity accessories, battery packs, and charging pylons, meant to support work in multiple locations and designed for the needs of today’s hybrid worker. It’s time to upgrade the office experience, implementing desks and tables with adjustable height features throughout for focus and meeting work, giving the added benefit of choice related to posture during the workday.
The office landscape will consist of spaces with various configurations, shapes, and levels of privacy—a place where fixed walls will be purposeful and strategic in their placement, with a greater emphasis placed on furniture to define spatial boundaries. Private offices are going toward smaller, reservable, non-dedicated focus rooms. While not prescribed to one person, these reservable offices can be varied in the type of furnishings and customization options to offer unique opportunities that give varied character to a space, providing another level of choice for the user.
Forego the ‘Commander’ Style Conference Room
Another aspect of the workplace that is long overdue for a rethink is the conference room. We have been using the military command model for years, which increasingly stands at odds with deployed technology. While the elongated rectangle gave authority to the head of the table, the configuration for viewing screens was consistently a problem in bigger rooms. Attempting to facilitate collaboration with a virtual audience forces us to admit that the commander’s rectangular table doesn’t work as well as it used to. The first step is a thoughtful exploration of how a room is used and its frequency. Alternative solutions using more theater-style seating, with mobility through casters or swivel in the seats, make the experience more agile and conducive to interacting with the technology to engage participants who are in-person or remote.
Technology has buoyed businesses throughout the pandemic. Our dependence and adoption have deepened through the experience, along with mixed audiences of virtual and hybrid connections. While creating these work settings, we would be remiss not to assume that work will happen everywhere, given the correct tools and furnishings. Lounges, café tables, booths, and private rooms are all newly appreciated work points. To support that work, small nudges such as tablet-armed lounge chairs, seating with built-in connectivity ports, mobile monitor stands, and small moveable laptop tables can facilitate productivity in tandem with the choice of movement throughout the office.
“...accessories such as floor lamps, area rugs, and plants are critical to the culture of value a modern company must demonstrate to its employees.”
Finally, we have been strategically introducing hospitality features in the workplace over the past several years. It was challenging to convince some facilitators that minor design considerations might go a long way in upgrading user experience. The mere introduction of accessories such as floor lamps, area rugs, throw pillows, and plants are subliminal reminders of comforts to be had now in the office. These touches are critical to the culture of value a modern company must demonstrate to its employees. It would be prudent for facility managers to allow for these appointments in their operating budget.
It’s Time to Rethink the Office
Like all good strategists, we must seize on these challenging times and convert them into opportunities. When Robert Propst invented the first office landscape for Herman Miller, consisting of angular panels, he dreamed of offices as flexible, and he wanted workers to have quality furnishings, with privacy; but not too much, and he explicitly did not want his moveable panels sitting at right angles, creating endless cubes. More conventional users overruled his vision, and thus gave way to the cubicle and years of overturning its shortcomings. An untold number of social, cultural, and environmental indicators tell us it’s time to rethink the office—maybe it’s time to give Propst’s vision another try.
For the full article, go to: The Crucial Role of Furniture in Workplace Design