As we continue down the path toward a return to the “new normal”, the future impact of recent changes is beginning to take focus. Creative’s team of workplace interiors and technology experts are here to guide you through the process of exploring how these emerging trends will play out in your organization. Here are some key insights into how the workplace for tomorrow is shaping up.
5 Tips for Building The Workplace of Tomorrow
1. Expand the ecosystem of places: more choice, more control.
Everyone’s sense of what makes them feel safe will be different and will change over time. So, we will need an expanded ecosystem of places — which in addition to the workplace can include the home and potential satellite spaces. People can choose where and how to work, based on their needs. By giving people more choices, they are able to feel a sense of control over their work and a sense of safety. Steelcase Global Report: Engagement and the Global Workplace found employees who had more control over their experience at work were more satisfied with their workplace and more highly engaged.
New spaces, like corporate “mud rooms” may emerge, offering people a place to safely transition from their commute to their work day. We can also expect to see workplaces adapt by offering workers a place to have family members or pets join them for the day.
In addition, to attract and retain talent, organizations need a diversified workplace strategy to meet the diverse needs of people and how they want to work.
2. Shift from fixed to fluid
Work environments designed with fixed architecture and furniture must shift to become more fluid. No one knows what the future holds. Disruption is a given — whether it’s another wave of the virus, social unrest that shuts down a city or a natural disaster. Organizations need spaces that can adjust easily and quickly – not just by facilities but by employees – supporting the social distancing requirements of today, but also empowering employees to adapt spaces based on the type of work they need to do and the level of privacy they need to do it.
In addition to flexible and adaptable furnishings, it’s critical to think about an equally flexible power and data infrastructure. Products like Steelcase Thread, Juniper Mist, and Tate Access Floors empower a super-resilient, secure and adaptable workplace.
3. Focus on the "me" within "we"
The workplace will need to balance the growing need for teamwork (“we”) with the needs of the individual (“me”). Prior to the pandemic, work was becoming more team-based and many people struggled with open plan offices that emphasized group work to the exclusion of individuals’ need for concentration and focus. After the crisis, we’ll lean on the office to support the collaborative work we’ve all missed in an even bigger way — people will need to be able to quickly shift between working alone and together. They’ll also need more spaces to focus, especially if they can’t find solace at home and places for rejuvenation, as they’ll likely continue to feel stress and anxiety.
Video calls will be more frequent since distributed work will continue due to ongoing travel restrictions and some people will return to work in the office while others remain at home, so they will need more spaces to take video calls without disrupting coworkers. Solutions like Orangebox Air3 are ideally suited to support these needs without the need for costly and disruptive conventional construction.
The wellbeing of workers will also be supported by spaces designed to enhance physical, social and cognitive wellbeing. Places for meditation, self-care, prayer, and renewal will become an integral part of a holistic workplace wellbeing strategy.
4. Make every collaboration space high performing.
People had two primary destinations for collaboration before the crisis sent us home — open spaces with a coffee shop vibe and traditional, enclosed meeting rooms. Both will need to be rethought and become higher performing going forward. Some of the most inspiring spaces on corporate campuses often sat empty as people gravitated to places where they could get work done. Traditional conference rooms may have been equipped with whiteboards or technology, but they rarely fostered creative thinking, and now will present challenges for distancing requirements.
Going forward, collaboration spaces need to be inspiring, high performing and safe. Collaboration spaces (open and enclosed) in the workplace will need to support a range of postures, easy access to power and collaborative tools (proximity) and the ability to control the level of privacy while still feeling relaxed and comfortable. They need to offer tools for idea generation — such as whiteboards and large-scale collaboration technology to connect with remote teammates.
Tools like Microsoft Surface Hub 2S with Steelcase Roam and Crestron Flex will help to bridge the divide between physical and digital collaboration.
5. Merge the digital and the physical
A crash course in remote work pushed people to improve their digital skills and now the physical and digital need to come together in spaces that support co-located and distance work. As teams embrace more video-based collaboration, large-scale collaboration devices create a more inclusive experience for people and their content whether they are in the same room or working apart.
Embedded layers of smart and connected technology can create a more touchless experience at work. And occupancy data will support data-driven decision making to control density and influence cleaning frequency. And as companies work to figure out when changes need to be made to the workplace, data will be an important part of moving forward.
Expect to see more entry screening technologies like OneScreen GoSafe and other leading edge technologies like the Synexis BioDefense System that safely reduce the spread of microbes in occupied spaces