WATERCOOLER CHAT: Creating a Healthy Hybrid Workspace
Creating a healthy hybrid workspace has become significant in the return to work. With flexible work dominating the workplace, employees and business owners alike are searching for ways to create healthy collaboration. The great resignation and the downsize of departments have given employers pause to consider what the future looks like when not all departments are in the same location.
According to the International WELL Building Institute, the physical workplace is one of the top three factors affecting job performance and satisfaction. In response, companies are seeking ways to invest in their most important asset: people.
Collaborative, experiential work environments contribute to healthy hybrid workspace design by providing free sharing of ideas, offering support, and building community. Feeling connected continues to challenge, with some positions remaining remote. Increasing social interaction across digital platforms among employees can satisfy the need for community and emotional well-being at work. But the lure back to work needs more.
Dedicated rooms for meetings, conferences, and training have become more integrated spaces within the flexible work model. Allowing for more options both inside and outside the domain of the office environment.
You will notice common trends for healthy hybrid workplace design variations for the foreseeable future. Now that employees are transitioning between work-from-home and making their way back to the office, the workplace has to offer creature comforts and more. Providing employees with different types of workspaces and amenities allows for increased social interaction, independence, and choice.
Providing employees with different types of workspaces and amenities allows for increased social interaction, independence, and choice. Let’s take a look at the top three elements needed to create a healthy workplace for your people:
- Opportunities for connection
- Access to nature
- Healthy building design
- Instilling an incubator for change
Image from Duda/Paine
