Stay-at-home orders and other confining measures began in March and are still in effect in some form, essentially forcing American offices to operate in a skeletal format or a state of abandonment.

Leaving critics to wonder: is there any value in the traditional office?

The Seeming Extinction of the Office

Similarly to the TV show The Office, the modern office is seemingly coming to an end. Instead, this time it’s not ending because a key cast member is leaving. Rather the office is being ravaged by a pandemic and social distancing restrictions that are ongoing.

However, the extinction of the office isn’t a 2020 philosophy. It dates back to 2013, and possibly even before then.

What proponents of this “dying office” philosophy believe is that all this technology makes the office a relic and redundant in the age of technology.

Yet, it’s this same technology that has allowed companies to keep their workforce employed while continuing their operations. Because technology is a vital component of the modern office, but it’s not the only component.

Those who believe the office’s death is only being exacerbated by COVID-19 – and that it would have been an inevitable fate for this type of work environment – feel that employees have more freedom, creativity, and personal responsibility when they’re able to work remotely.

They also argue that employees – and employers – will save immensely, establishing a leaner company.

The notion is: cut out the office and you save on overhead. Besides, you’ll have happier, healthier, and more fulfilled employees, all while increasing creativity, productivity, and overall morale in the workplace.

The Traditional Office Is Here To Stay

Some refuse to consider that the office will change. They assume that the office – in its current format – is set in stone. They maintain that only less-informed companies would give up their offices, allowing their employees to work remotely. They assert that employees are eager to come back to work, they’re eager to have some normalcy restored. These claims are valid, however, you need to consider the greater context.

Employees may be itching to return to work because work is the only regular thing in their life at the moment. Work is their only source of stability, and in some instances, human interaction.

Perhaps COVID-19 and social distancing regulations are amplifying their desire to leave the house for something other than the weekly grocery run, and perhaps this could be what’s driving their need to return to the office?

But those in favor of the traditional office cite studies that confirm that employees are more productive, more accountable, and more creative when they’re in an office.

So who’s right?

It’s a bit of both.

The workspace post-pandemic will be about finding a balance between the traditional office and the flexibility of remote work.

Finding Balance

What this pandemic is teaching us is that an office isn’t the only solution to increasing productivity. Employees can be as productive when working remotely as they are within an office. But productivity shouldn’t be the yardstick for determining the effectiveness of an office, nor should potential cost-saving be the only reason you let go of the office. The benefits or drawbacks of an office aren’t limited to financial or physical output.

Creativity, competition, knowledge-sharing: these are all diminished when you’re working from home, and are difficult to quantify.

Communication, something else that is essential for successful collaboration, is more straightforward face-to-face.

Employees aren’t being distracted by spaceship backgrounds on Zoom or trying to decipher the tone of an email before responding. Yes, these are conundrums you can face at the office, but they’re far more common when you’re working from home.

Instead of eradicating the office or leaving it as is; going forward the best solution is to find a way to adapt to the issues the pandemic has shown can impair the modern office.

Adapting To New Normals

The modern office is going to change post-pandemic.

This entails developing innovative ideas of what this new workspace will look like and how it will function.

How will an office incorporate social distancing while fostering creativity, knowledge-sharing, and healthy competition? What if workers prefer working remotely to working at the office?

The answer to these questions isn’t in banishing the office altogether. Instead, the answer is to reinvent the office space with these new normals in mind.

Just as an open-plan office concept took center stage as collaboration and creativity were encouraged, this is an opportunity to adapt to ensure these “challenges” don’t cripple the American office but help shape a new and more sustainable office.

In conclusion, there’s still value in the office.

Download our Return to Work Playbook here.

A few months ago less than 5 percent of the American workforce worked from home. Today, COVID-19 has made the arrangement a necessity for many as the businesses they work for aim to stay open amid shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders.

If you are an employer facing this new reality, your to-do list probably includes one urgent item after another. Ensuring that your employees thrive in a remote environment being at the top of the list.

Then you can address “the fun stuff,” explaining how making even a modest investment in office furniture can make a huge difference in how comfortable and productive they feel.

Put IT first

Like most businesses, we are reliant on technology to function properly. This reliance may take on an entirely new meaning with a mostly remote workforce placing new and usual demands on your computer system.

Since working remotely is not a possibility without a robust and reliable infrastructure, put “testing” on the top of your to-do list. Now is also the time to ensure that ancillary apps and software are installed for the people who will need them.

Some employees may not know what they will need. They may discover a more efficient method as time goes by. All employees working from home should have access to company email and teleconferencing technologies.

Cover the work bases

Fortifying confidence in your computer network can be a huge relief and allow you to move on to some important next steps, including:

• Assembling and distributing an employee contact information list. It should include work email addresses and personal cellphone numbers, too.
• Distributing the physical documents and materials your employees will need to work remotely.
• Conferring with each and every employee—or, in bigger companies, teams of employees—to ensure they have what they need, understand what is expected of them and know exactly who to consult when (not if) questions or problems arise during the work day.

Conclusion

For now, you may have no idea how long your company’s remote work model will last. Some companies are even using the experience as a test run, leaving open the possibility of offering remote work schedules after the current health crisis has passed.

No matter how long remote work drives your business, management experts agree that when employees are comfortable, they are happier. When they’re happier, they tend to be more productive. While you cannot mandate where your employees set up their remote work station, management experts say you can encourage them to:

• Designate a workspace outside of a typically busy room like the kitchen or family room and claim it as their own.
• Eliminate distractions (such as a TV) and improve necessary features (such as lighting).
• Invest what they can in making it comfortable—a chair and desk are office furniture necessities that most employees need to log a productive work day.

Like you, your employees may find themselves in unchartered territory. In this case, the design experts at Rightsize Facility can help. Call us for a consultation and we will help your employees set up an organized, remote office outfitted with office furniture that will help them equate WFH with their wonderful, functional headquarters.

Contact Rightsize Facility here.

You can try to lure a candidate with your company’s mission. And you can try to convince them to join your team with the promise of challenging projects. At some point, you know you had better address salary and benefits. But you can bet that while you’re talking, the candidate is looking around and trying to picture themself in your workplace. The question is, What kind of picture has your office and office furniture created in their mind?

Your office can help or hinder workplace recruiting

No one ever said that a workplace should look and feel like a home, even though more of them, especially among Fortune 500 companies, seem to take their cues from comfortable home design. Still, it would be hard to imagine conducting an interview in a conference room over a table strewn with papers and coffee mugs. You’d tidy up first, much like you would if you were hosting a guest at the dining room table in your home.

You do this because you know full well that like your home, your office can make a powerful impression on visitors. And it can play a crucial role in your workplace recruiting efforts, particularly when you take the time to understand why it’s such a draw in the first place.

An office conveys personality and culture

Just as you may refer to your receptionist as your “director of first impressions,” your waiting area makes an impression, too. Are the paint, lighting, furniture and accessories warm and traditional? Modern and edgy? Casual and inviting?

Whatever qualities the waiting area exudes, they probably carry over to the rest of your workplace, revealing a great deal about your company’s personality and culture. Fair or unfair, accurate or inaccurate, the impressions created by the design and details can communicate as much as your website—your greatest marketing tool.

An office can be a deal-breaker

Candidates who compare and contrast career opportunities often have more than salary, benefits and promotional opportunities on their checklist. While these issues may be priorities, an office can be the deciding factor when two offers are similar. Look no further than social media for proof. Employers who know they’ve created special workspaces are happy to broadcast this fact to jobseekers.

Offices matter to millennials

They may not be a force you’re contending with now, but millennials are making their presence known in the American workplace. By some estimates, they’re expected to make up a full 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. Time and again, research shows that they care immensely not only about where they work, but how they work, with comfortable lounging areas tucked among more traditional workstations holding great appeal to their more laid-back attitude. If your goal is to attract and retain top talent, workplace design must speak the language of millennials.

An expert can lead the way

If you’re thinking that it’s impossible “to be all things to all people,” you’re right. Even the most thoughtful or expensive office renovation project can end up eliciting a range of reactions. It’s the nature of the enterprise; office design can be highly subjective.

This is why it’s important to work with an expert who can help you narrow your choices so that your office appeals as much to employees as to prospective employees you’re hoping will become part of your team.

Start now with a complimentary space plan consultation. We understand: office design is important in any job market. But in a competitive one, it could positively transform your workplace recruiting efforts.

They have the information you need, so you’d think they’d spill it like a fountain when you ask for it. But office workers tend to be resourceful, so even if their desk is a bit too far out of reach, their chair is lumpy and their window blinds are tattered, they’ve probably jerry-rigged solutions so they can focus on doing their jobs.

It’s no wonder they often go silent when they’re asked how their office space can be improved. And as for workplace wellness ideas? This is an even bigger stretch than the one they make to their desk.

So where does this leave you? Rather than forego the whole idea of making improvements to your employees’ office space, turn to a study conducted by Olivet Nazarene University. More than 2,000 workers talked about how they felt about their respective office spaces—and they spilled information that you can either adapt to your workplace or use to start a conversation with your employees.

Workers prefer private offices

The average age of the 2,009 workers in the study was 37, with 55 percent being female and the rest male. To the extent that their opinions were influenced by their own work setup, it may help to know that:

• 4 percent worked in an “open office,” meaning they had no assigned space.
• 13 percent worked in an open office with an assigned space.
• 21 percent had a private office.
• 28 percent worked in cubicles.
• 34 percent worked in a hybrid of a private office and open floor plan.

When asked if they were “happy with the way” their office is set up, those with some type of private office led the pack. Ninety percent of workers with an entirely private office said they were happy while 79 percent of those with a combination private office and open floor plan gave a thumbs up.

The quest for privacy was a recurring theme in the Olivet study. When asked what they disliked about their office setup, the respondents ranked their answers with authority, citing:

• Noise
• A lack of privacy
• Too many visual distractions
• Too little energy
• The feeling of being “on display”
• Being too isolated

Workers equate quiet with productivity

The study’s respondents were also precise about what they need to be productive at work, with:

• 35 percent of the respondents saying “a quiet location.”
• 24 percent wanting “a dedicated office space.”
• 22 percent expressing a wish for a “comfortable chair or desk.”
• 8 percent preferring a door.
• 11 percent listing other amenities.

Workers may influence future office layouts

The study’s findings suggest that workplace wellness ideas aren’t far from workers’ minds. The authors conclude: “As professional expectations evolve along with the modern American workforce, it’s only natural that the space we work in follows suit. Even cubicles are disappearing, often replaced with much-debated open floor plans… Increasingly, offices are being designed with employees’ wants and needs in mind.”

If you find yourself pursuing this goal but aren’t quite sure how to follow through, allow the design experts at Rightsize Facility to help you. All you have to do to get started is make an appointment for a consultation. We’ll take it from there. Whether or not you use the Olivet study to elicit employee feedback, we can help you make the best use of your office space – and maybe incorporate the workplace wellness amenities that will set an upbeat tone for the new decade.

Photo Credit: www.watsonfurniture.com

Sometimes you just can’t help it. It’s easier to pinpoint the office furniture you don’t like instead of what you do.

Indecision may not be an ideal state, but turning the calendar to the new year can be a glorious way to turn indecision into action. Just as in previous years, 2020 holds the promise of ushering in new trends that can enliven your office and give your employees even more reason to enjoy coming to work.

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New technologies are changing the way companies work and compete with each other. Technology is not only affecting how companies work but have made an impact in working spaces too. In the past three years, we have seen growing trends of open workspaces and even virtual offices. Although the concepts of virtual offices and open workspaces have some merits and may cater to the needs of working, the traditional concept of ‘the office’ retains many of its benefits

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