5 Trends Influencing Workplace Design
No two offices are the same. This can pose a challenge to find office furniture that suits your space. New ways of working, like standing desks, are starting to become normal in offices. It’s best to choose flexible workstations, so you can continue to evolve your work norm.
Technology has, and continues to, change the entire workplace structure not just how you work, but where you work. Let’s go through five of the new trends that are influencing the design of workplaces.
Office design is changing. These things are ‘in.’
- flexibility: As the working culture changes, companies are matching their offices to suit. Employees are working from home more than ever, coming into the office for shorter periods. This means a flexible workplace with adaptable furniture to suit the ‘different bums on seats is important. These hotspot zones are casual areas where employees can do one to two hours of work. Office Desks are no longer just a one-person space.
- Encouraging wellness Employee health and wellbeing is a hot topic right now. Companies are addressing issues of fatigue with a mix of new office furniture and equipment that increase movement. This includes sit-stand desks and readjusting the office layout to get employees walking more. For example, placing the workstation further away from the toilets and kitchen. Every step counts.
- Minimalism Naturally over the years, companies have ditched paper records for cloud storage. The same goes for printing. Most paperwork can be done online now, which frees up room in the office for other things like a lounge area.
- Task-based, not hours-based Back in the early 80’s, the 9-5 structure was ingrained. People work eight hours, five days a week. But the lines between work and personal life have blurred, due to technology. Now, we check our emails at 8.00pm at night, from our smart phones. This has led forward-thinking companies to focus on tasks, not hours. For tasks that involve intense focus, areas like private pods and quiet zones work well. Introduce these into your company to give your people the right environment to work, distraction-free.
- 5. Natural lighting No one wants to be chained to a desk, without even a window. But not every room with desks always has outside views. Consider how you can position your workstations to benefit from the most amount of natural light. If your reception area is closest to the window, think about how you can adjust the space. Your employees are the people who spend the most time in the office. Keep them motivated with natural sunlight.
At Interia, we have a large range of bases that can be coupled with any one of our workstation top sizes and finishes. Your work station will be manufactured right here in our own factory, so we can custom design it for your needs.
Like the open plan look? Modular workstations are effective for workstation ‘clusters.’ Choose from two-person or four-person desks.
