The well-being of employees became more of a focus in 2022 and companies have stepped up to make supportive changes.
This has led to many offices revamping their layout or furniture, changing the face of offices post-pandemic in line with a number of office trends.
Transformable Offices
Businesses across the UK have now given up expensive fixed sites or large offices and many of them have turned to convertible offices, where not every employee has a personal workspace.
This set-up allows for a higher rotation of staff to come into the office and also more space for meetings or other areas such as wellbeing-focused break-out rooms or lunch areas.
The resimercial trend has seen many offices undergoing a transformation to make the workplace more comfortable and a home from home for employees.
Noise Cancellation
With many employees used to working from home, moving back to the office threw up issues in some workplaces of a noisy atmosphere that affected productivity.
Many companies have created quiet zones for concentrated work and meetings or brought in equipment such as booths and PODs if the layout was fully open-plan. Booths tend to be open but still provide a private space, while PODs have a door to ensure a more soundproof area for private calls or zoom meetings.
We have also worked with clients who allocated other soft-acoustic partitioned areas for small team brainstorming or catch-up sessions.
Social Distancing Safety
In many workspaces social distancing procedures were kept to keep employees and visitors safe and healthy.
Examples include basic changes such as improving the layout of an office for better space up to larger changes such as introducing touch sensors, automatic doors, contactless dispensers and improved ventilation.
Personalisation
With many employees used to their home surroundings, there has been a lean towards making the office more personalised and comfortable by reducing the more formal environment.
Warm lighting, indoor plants, welcoming pictures and ergonomic furniture are among the adaptions many businesses have put in place.
Green Office
A conscious consumer has emerged from the pandemic so businesses are placing a much bigger focus on ensuring that their practices, products and interiors are environmentally-friendly and natural.
Sustainability in the workplace is key and businesses are discovering that they can instigate more environmentally-friendly measures that evoke greener options and meet the needs of long-term solutions, many of which can be achieved within budgetary constraints. Our sustainability blog looks at some options.
