Social distancing design is realigning the collaborative workplace culture as new health and safety guidelines for businesses encourage safer engagement. Companies are beginning the reconfiguration process and the steps necessary to safely welcome employees back into the office.
Managing workplace disruption has become an overnight priority as COVID-19 pandemic protocols have become the new normal. The boundaries of how far organizations thought wellbeing and flexible workplace policies could stretch have been extended beyond what was ever thought possible. Even organizations like universities and utilities, with more traditional workplace cultures, are directing staff to work remotely in an effort to keep employees safe and slow the spread of the virus. Organizations that already had a substantial work-from-home population are also finding the need to quickly and unexpectedly expand their remote work programs to keep their teams collaborative for an undetermined amount of time.
Creating a branded environment in your office is more than just chairs, desks and technology. It’s about engagement and storytelling. Building your story through environmental design woven into the workplace creates a unique user experience for your staff and your clients. Brand immersion is a strategy that fosters morale, productivity, and a deeper commitment through engagement.
Futurescaping workspace design means designing innovative workspaces that tell your story. Workspace design is becoming increasingly more complex in terms of how offices function and operate in the modern business context. Designers on the front lines of workplace concepts are working to anticipate the ever-evolving needs of businesses while creating a cohesive brand environment that embraces innovation in tandem with a company’s corporate culture and vision.
Making an entrance is all about the pivotal first impression that happens the second someone steps into your reception area. It is the first thing employees, clients, and potential prospects see when they walk into your workspace. Your story starts behind that front door, so it’s a huge opportunity to say something exceptional about your product or service.
Working with a designer is a great way to start this process because it needs to not only function but speak to your brand. The goal is to create an elegant, beautiful and comfortable space that accurately embodies the tone of how you do business. This is often subjective and hard to pin down. So be prepared to ask yourself some important questions about what you want your reception area to say about your company.
Bending to flexible work puts your team in the driver’s seat of their work experience. Progressive companies are embracing the flexible work ethic with their eye on the future of work and business development. Many are casting off traditional business models in favor of workspaces that look nothing like the offices of their past.
Today’s most coveted workplaces offer a pleasant juxtaposition of work, conversation, and rest areas, streamlined for collaboration on the fly. They are the enablers of mobile working options, freeing employees and contractors alike from the shackles of their desks.
Flexibility and unstructured work indulge a simple employee need. Investing in that need can create workplaces that are as dynamic as the business world itself—and your competition. By 2030, it is estimated that 30 percent of all offices will become flexible, on-demand workspaces.
Office design is all about opportunities. And one of the best things about opportunity is innovation. Investing in your talent by utilizing the natural agility of design has come into the workplace as one of the unsung heroes of office design. The very nature of corporate environments has been changing and becoming more fluid and conversational. Work is no longer confined to one space or one desk all day long. Collaboration has become the essential component to corporate success and office environments have evolved to encompass endless possibilities for people to connect.
With these trends in mind, and talent recruitment and retention still a high priority, how does your office design support more collaborative activities? Do you need more definition within the spaces that your team utilizes the most? How can you use these trends to build trust in the most effective way and drive up engagement levels?
