Everyone’s always hoping to find the next big thing to improve work efficiency, increase employee retention, or impress prospective clients. We’ll tell you one of the biggest buzzwords you should know for 2022: Flexibility.
Office space recommendations over the past few years have focused on the same few trends: Open concept, comforting yet professional, and ergonomic furniture. While these trends are still true going into 2022, we hadn’t seen any significant changes for a relatively long time.
This past year we’ve seen a new concept join that list, Flexibility and Adaptability.
While flexibility has always been preferred in an office space, the current work climate has made it an absolute necessity opposed to a nice addition.
What does workspace flexibility mean?
Workspace flexibility refers to a workspace that’s able to adapt to your needs on a given day. It’s able to accommodate a large range of employees and allows everyone to do their job, regardless of what that may be.
A flexible workspace allows you to host a large meeting for your whole team one day, then a quiet and efficient environment a day later. Employees are able to have videocalls, face-to-face interactions, send emails, or do paperwork all in one relatively small place.
Flexibility allows you to quickly transition from one need to the next without sacrificing your productivity or having too much wasted space. You may have heard of the concept as “flexispace,” a versatile arrangement of your traditional office that can accommodate the needs of any worker.
In an era where so many people work from home (often only for part of the week), this is a massive advantage.
What does a flexible office look like?
Flexible office spaces are generally centered around shared workspaces and activity-based workspaces. You’ll see the following concepts:
- Open Concepts: Physical barriers have their benefits, but really hurt the versatility of a space. An open space allows you to accommodate a large group of people, while also allowing safe distances when necessary.
- Quiet Areas: An open concept without planning can lead to disrupting noise. Every efficient office space includes noise-restricting areas to offset the sounds of meetings and conversation. These will also help your more reserved workers feel more comfortable.
- Meeting Destinations: Some things need to stay private, and designated areas for meetings can’t be entirely phased out.
- Use of Resources: Everyone needs amenities, and providing efficient access to these has a drastic impact on your office.
- Flexible Equipment: Benching, seating, computers, and other workplace elements need to be dynamic and adjustable, allowing for a worker of any department or body type to be comfortable and productive.
- Fewer Designated Workspaces: If an employee is only working in the office once a week, there’s a good chance they don’t need a reserved location. Multiple workers can make use of the same area on different days or different times of day, opening up plenty of new space for other activities when needed.
Creating a flexible office
You don’t need to move offices to improve your workspace’s flexibility. Creating community areas and removing designated workspaces for people who now work from home is an easy way to start.
Some basic reorganization can go a long way, and explaining the intentions to employees can help them realize the benefits by themselves.
The specifics of creating a flexible office space depend greatly on your industry, floorplan, and company size. If you’re inexperienced rearranging offices, we’d recommend using a team of office redesign experts who’ve created flexible offices before.
Our family-owned company has been redesigning office spaces for over 20 years, and would be happy to help you out.
Flexible Products
Another way of improving your office’s flexibility is by using optimal products. Some of our favorites can be seen below.
Zenbooth – See Online
This office phone booth can be set up in your office, providing an optimal quiet area for small meetings or video calls. Available for 1 person, 2 people, or up to 4 people. Includes a powered height-adjustable desk and LED lighting.
Flip Top Nesting Tables – See Online
Featuring a quick response top-flip lever and locking casters, these tables are designed so they may be nested together for easy storage.
They have a professional appeal and sturdy build, helping you increase your workspace when needed.
Available in a wide variety of sizes and finishes.
Stand up Workstations – See Online
A classic ergonomic option, allowing users to sit or stand as needed throughout the day.
This option is also relatively easy to move, and provides a wide range of options for storage, size, and style.
HAT Benching System – See Online
This is our go-to Benching System for a lot of our redesigns. This system is sturdy, ergonomic, and perfect for an open office environment.
The versatile shields provide a nice middle ground between privacy and an open feel, and the system can be aligned in a variety of ways to fit well in your particular layout.
This is just a small cross section of the products that can help you achieve a more flexible office space. For more options, give us a call at (408) 753-9187. Tell us what you’re looking for, and we’ll take it from there.
Wishing you all great success in 2022!