Fine design: Updating your office for today’s workforce

Yes, more and more people are discovering the perks of working from home during the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean the whole workforce wants to stay there.

While two-thirds of the workforce wants the flexibility of hybrid work options, fewer than 20% want to work remotely full time, said Susan Orange, CID, director of workplace strategies at Baskervill, during “Navigating Leases & Returning To Work,” a VSCPA webinar on Nov. 13. 

Driving the desire for hybrid options are personal productivity, convenience, creativity, safety, health, balance, financial impacts and family time.

The pandemic “is going to impact our world for a year probably,” Susan says. “But forever? No. We’re social beings!”

So what does this mean for designing workplaces in the future?

“The environment is crucial to attraction and retaining,” Susan says.

Rett Turner CCIS, SIOR, a first vice president at Thalhimer, concurs. “Make the office as fun and hip as possible.”

To entice employees to return to the office, consider the following changes:

• Make changes in space allocation.
  • Resizing private offices saves an enormous amount of money. A 10-foot-by-12-foot office is now standard, Susan says. Private offices used to be 10x15 or larger.
  • Reduce the size of cubicles but increase the amount of open workspace, with different zones for interaction.
  • Reconfigure office spaces so the open offices appear on the perimeter to bring in the natural light from windows.
• Make design choices based on mentorship, collaboration and learning — not just “heads-down” work. Use lots of glass for transparency, accessibility and natural light.
• Focus your investments on updates that support highly flexible and adaptive functions.
• Ask your staff! Survey teams to find out what they need to perform and design workspaces around their needs. “This is a great opportunity for employers to engage employees,” Rett says. “What do they want to see in an office space?”
• Create “Zoom rooms” — dedicated rooms with better lighting for videoconferencing.

Find more resources, articles and links on reopening during and after COVID-10 here in the VSCPA Coronavirus Resource Center.