According to data from his studies conducted both before and after the pandemic, people lose the advantages of ad hoc contacts in a fully virtual environment as the flow of thoughts and social connections declines.
Colleagues, culture, and collaboration are the "three Cs" that offices offer. For workers, the workplace offers a setting for in-person interactions like socializing, coaching, and managing that technology tries to mimic. Physical spaces serve as a platform for a company's brand & culture and are crucial for luring and keeping the top personnel, according to employers.
As evidenced by the rise in the leasing of high-end offices before the pandemic, the office will continue to be important for attracting talent. Agreements for Class A (prime) offices in London were nearly equivalent with those for Classes B & C combined from 2017 - 2019 (48% for Class A vs. 52percent for Class B & C). Prior to the epidemic, office space was becoming denser, with area per employee falling by 8% in the U. S. from 2010 to 2017.
While cost-cutting was the primary driver of those changes, both tenants & developers are now reconsidering design to account for occupant health, collaboration, and greater productivity.
The benefits of traditional office layouts, which only include desks for personal task and a few conference rooms, will be quite restricted in the workplace of the future. Traditional office layouts will need to change in order to reinforce the following major value propositions:
Liveability: Allowing hybrid working arrangements that boost productivity and innovation while improving employee experience
Sustainability: pursuing net-zero carbon emission targets.
Resilience: Adapting to changing and varying demand by being more adaptable.
Affordability: Providing lower operating life cycle expenses.
Providing space for hybrid working models
The workplace of the future will likely be hybrid, based on the previous mentioned BCG report on working habits, as nearly half of the manpower (i.e., 47%) is eager to have flexibility. In a hybrid model that gives employees options and combines the advantages of remote work and physical locations, offices will live side by side with remote work options.
Using design to improve the work experience, the office in this emerging hybrid version must transform from a location to sit behind a desk to a place to communicate and share ideas. Cyber security will be necessary to enable secure connections among a scattered workforce, and technology will be a vital tool to ensure employee engagement across all physical locations.
Activity-based workspace: flexible and cooperative designs
Office designs should be flexible to accommodate a range of applications throughout the day and optimize the benefits of face-to-face interaction. A variety of settings are offered by an activity-based workplace to support employees during the course of their workday. The area incorporates "external" components like co-working and the home office, from focus areas to work cafes.
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