The ideology behind what makes the best workplace is constantly changing.
What are the latest trends for building and design of the workplace? How do you modernize a company space and set employees up for success through office design?
Gensler, the world’s largest architecture and design firm, surveyed workers in 2016, and again in 2020 with the U.S. Work From Home Survey. Both Gensler surveys found key insight on strategies for building the workplace for hybrid teams of today and beyond.
The theme? There is an undeniable, direct link between the workplace and innovation. We split this theme into three broad categories below.
Experience-based design
As the millennial generation ‘comes of age’ in the corporate world, it is mindful to pay attention to what they deem important. And millennials - more than any generation before them - place a lot of significance on their quality of life.
This has not changed much pre-pandemic versus post pandemic. Actually, the value they place on experiences (over physical objects) has only increased.
Having a positive experience in the workplace - whether that’s training tools, a green building design, or flexible collaboration spaces that build community - all lead to higher retention rates and higher performance levels for employees.
User-designed workspaces, powered by technology
With the right tools, technology, and planning to support the many different ways that people work, offices can become user-defined spaces that are flexible for hybrid work and suit everyone's needs.
To accomplish this, companies are exploring a combination of open floor plans to boost transparency and ease of communication, along with private rooms that allow for solo work - called focus rooms. This approach encourages employees to find the space that is optimal for them when at the office.
Organizations are also looking at how to place technology where it's needed: paired with the right spaces, technology keeps work processes flowing and productivity moving in the right direction.
Additionally, technology allows for the occupants of any room to 'hack' together the type of room they need for different work situations - maybe someone needs to conduct research individually, or they need to conference in a colleague from a remote location - technology provides flexibility to these spaces, so that they can serve many purposes.
Corporate lobbies as the third workspace
As companies focus on making the most of their real estate and utilizing all space as potential collaboration areas, corporate lobbies are now being reevaluated as a new active workspace.
Traditionally, corporations built big, beautiful lobbies that served little purpose other than to greet guests. Now, companies are repurposing them.
T1V’s branded interaction touchscreen walls combined with ThinkHub collaboration software have helped many of our customers to achieve just this. By housing an Interactive Timeline to communicate their brand's history, or an Interactive Map to showcase locations around the globe - our customers are able to use T1V software to educate guests and employees alike - making the lobby an active space for learning, sharing, and educating.
These trends for the design and development for the future of the workplace continue to suggest that the role of technology will be a big factor in building work environments that foster innovation and collaboration - for all combinations of hybrid teams.
For more information on key workplace trends, explore T1V’s Work From Anywhere Study.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in July 2015 and has been updated for accuracy and relevance.
Additional Articles:
3 Reasons Businesses Are Turning to Collaboration Software
Reimagining the Spaces We Collaborate In
The Death of the Huddle Room and the Rise of the 'Focus Room'
Originally published July 15, 2015, updated April 7th, 2021