Since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, office design trends have changed drastically in the past 2 years. As employers begin to have more and more employees in the office, comfort and functionality have taken center stage. If you are considering a new office for your company, here are 5 things you should consider when designing an office space in 2022.
Design your Office Space with Privacy in Mind
One of the biggest benefits of working from home is privacy and lack of distractions or interruptions. When working in a traditional office, chit-chat and other activities can prevent employees from being as efficient as possible. The privacy of a home office offered employees something that most offices spaces could not: peace and quiet. One extremely common request that we have begun to receive is one or two private rooms in an office space where employees can go if they want some peace and quiet to really buckle down and go into “focus mode”.
Bring the Comforts of Home to the Office Space
Privacy is not the only aspect that employees miss when moving back into a traditional office space. When designing an office space, many companies are attempting to bring the comforts of home into the office. Some of these comforts include:
- Comfortable seating – 45% of teleworkers regularly work from their couches. Seating areas designed around couches and other forms of comfortable seating rather than desks are becoming significantly more common. These areas are a great way to boost the productivity of those who became more acustomed to less traditional work spaces.
- Warm Lighting – Obviously, most homes do not have the large florescent light fixtures that are common in office spaces. In an effort to make their employees more comfortable and relaxed, many businesses are requesting that we include warmer lighting in their office space designs
- Outdoor Seating – I am not sure about you, but one of the things that I really enjoyed about working from home was the ability to work on my back patio. When possible, many business are requesting small outdoor work spaces to give their employees a chance to work outside and enjoy the fresh air.
Biophilically Designed Office Spaces
In addition to giving their employees the opportunity to work outdoors, many companies want to incorporate nature into their office spaces. This practice is known as biophilic design. Here are a few of the most common features of biophilic design:
- Plants
- Water features
- Bamboo
- Wood
- Fishtanks
- Stone
Lighting Throughout the Office
Lighting is a critical aspect of keeping your employees happy and productive. As we said before, warmer lighting is becoming way more common. However, you should make sure your employees always have somewhere that they can go to enjoy some natural light as well. Also, consider installing individually controllable lights at all your employees’ workstations.
Flexible Office Spaces
Creating a flexible workspace is a great way to save money on reconstruction costs as your company grows, or your needs changed. There are tons of ways to create a flexible workspace. (maybe we should write a blog on that later) Foldable walls and movable furniture are a great way to shape an office to fit your needs. They are also great for companies with hybrid workforces. Flexibility makes it super easy to accommodate 50% of your team one day, then 100% the next.
If you are ready for a new office space, contact Michael Walker Construction, today. As a leading DFW commercial construction company, we would be happy to sit down and discuss your project with you.