2018, a small percentage of companies were adopting hybrid working practices. Over the next couple of years, COVID forced businesses to transition their workforce into fully remote roles. Now, with lockdowns lifted, companies are either bringing employees back full-time, part-time or remaining remote.
This has shaken up people’s perceptions of office space with the functionality and value of having one for a company. Office space planners now have the challenge of redefining office spaces for the latest work practices including hybrid working office spaces.
What is a hybrid working office space?
A hybrid working office space is an office environment built to accommodate employees working for a set number of days a week in and out of the office. This means that the office space needs to be flexible in terms of the number of employees it can accommodate while still providing suitable environments for employees to work effectively.
The traditional cubicle-style office layouts does not fit most modern-day working habits. In this guide, we will provide you with key points you need to consider when refurbishing or adopting a new hybrid working office space.
Identify your hybrid working office processes
Hybrid working jobs can be different with every company, stretching from 1 day working from home to 1 day a month in the office. You first need to understand what the work-from-home split is with your employees and co-workers.
Once you understand the hybrid working agreements, you then need to identify the day-to-day variations for the number of people coming into the office throughout the week. Along with the number of people, it’s important to understand the reasons for people coming into the office.
Are they coming in just because that’s what’s been agreed? are they scheduling all their meetings when they are in the office? do they have their brainstorming sessions in the office? This information will help ensure you have the right type of space in your office.
Build collaboration spaces
One of the hardest parts of working from home is to hold effective brainstorming sessions or to do any collaborative work. When talking with companies, we have found one of the top reasons for employees coming into the office is to discuss ideas or work with colleagues on projects. Having simple pods of workstations restricts the effectiveness of holding these types of discussions.
There are multiple types of collaboration spaces to consider from hyper focused one-to-one spaces to high table and chair studios. Finding the right type of collaborative space is down to your company culture and the type of discussions employees have in their meetings.
Don’t forget focused working
Modern-day offices are becoming more and more open-plan, which means an often overlooked part of the office space is a section for hyper focused work. Where employees do not want to interrupted or listen to the general noise in the office.
The best options for focused working is, in fact, the latest innovation in office furniture. Office Pods and Booths. This type of office furniture involves acoustic-quality sections of the office where employees are able to either talk or work in private without any disruptions.
Hotelification in the office
This phrase came about as a result of COVID, where businesses were keen to get employees back into the office, but needed to refurbish their space to encourage people back. ‘Hotelification in the office’ is changing your office environment to having hotel-like amenities offering high-end, luxury spaces with clean surroundings.
Similar to visiting a hotel, the more pampered you feel as a guest the more likely you are to come back. This is aligned with hotelification, where you want to provide the space and perks in your office to retain employees and make them feel engaged with your company culture.
Incorporate smart tech into your office space
In office spaces where you may rarely have full teams in the office at the same time, so you need to account for this in your office tech. Have you got enough meeting rooms with video conferencing capabilities? Do you have enough screens per workstation? Do you employees struggle with focused work or places to take video calls?
It’s not just about the planning of the space with office tech, but also the office furniture you use as well. Workstations can have sliding tops with cable trays for easier cable management and aesthetically pleasing office spaces. Sit and stand desks are a very popular type of desk type highlighting important ergonomic features as well as employees reporting to be more productive using them.
Finding and sourcing the right office furniture can be a very difficult and intimidating task to undertake yourself. Our team of office furniture procurement specialists, source the right furniture every day, their expertise will be able to guide and reassure you on your office furniture choices.
Flexible spaces for the future
One of the most common reasons we find for moving offices or refurbishing offices is a change in company size. Whether that’s because the company is downsizing or preparing to go into a growth stage. How can you plan workstations and office space if you do not what the future holds?
You build flexible spaces that can be multi-purposed.
This can include agile office furniture, open-plan office space, and movable office furniture. This way, without having to knock down or rebuild walls, you can manoeuvre spaces around your current office environment. Giving your office the flexibility to accommodate any eventuality that may happen in the future for your business.
The future of office space design
Hybrid working office spaces are the future of office space design, and companies are already adopting these practices to allow for hybrid working jobs. A quality office space design built for your employees will have positive effects on their well-being, productivity and loyalty to your company.
If you want to talk to office space experts about how to refurbish your office and align it better to your company culture, then book an initial chat with our office space planners and see what you can achieve with your office environment.