Modern office - How to Design your Hybrid Workspace

Closed, dark and small divided office spaces are yesterday's news. Today, the workplace is open plan and we find ourselves in expansive spaces that mimic nature with natural colors, light and materials. This has an impact on employee satisfaction as well as productivity and creativity.

When redesigning to a modern and therefore hybrid office, there are a few points you should keep in mind that are inevitable for the success of the restructuring:

1) Creativity and communication

Creativity, Collaboration, Communication - the three Cs are what all managers want from their team members, but they should also stimulate and promote them. Probably the most effective way to increase the creativity, collaboration and communication of employees and thus make them work better is to design the working environment.

In addition to incorporating design elements like bright and natural hues, collaboration and communication can be increased primarily through space design. The arrangement of desks and furniture, as well as the implementation of technology that's right for your office, describe the new path companies should take to move away from cramped cubicles and private offices.

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2) Reduce stress

In addition to stimulating creativity and communication, the office should be designed to support stress reduction. Industrially designed offices are coming on strong. However, too much exposed metal and unfinished stone can make the team feel like they are just part of a big machine, causing anxiety and stress. Therefore, try to be intentional about using just such design elements and soften them with more inviting components like large cozy beanbags. Design your office to be open and inviting, with little partitioned space and workstations to make employees feel welcome and comfortable in the workplace.

3) Concentration

Modern offices want to promote collaboration and communication. However, the fine line between efficiency and overstimulation by other colleagues must be mastered. Team members must also be given the opportunity to work in a concentrated manner individually or in more private rounds. However, this does not contradict the idea of fostering collaboration. After all, the big picture of an idea can be created through collaboration and communication. But when it comes to working out and fine-tuning the details of the concept, employees should be able to work in a concentrated manner. The workplace should be designed in such a way that both individual and quiet work, as well as brainstorming and collaboration in large groups can take place simultaneously. In this way, everyone can choose the place and the way of working that suits him or her best.

4) Company image

A hip company with cool employees no longer has a mania for order. Nevertheless, companies should not forget their image, which could be discredited when customers visit. Areas that are at the front of the office, so to speak, should be clearly arranged and professionally designed. It makes sense to divide the workplace into a customer-facing area and an employee-facing area. This way, the office can be functional and user-friendly as well as professionally designed.

5) Feels like Home

Where people feel comfortable, they like to stay, and consequently they like to work and are more productive. A workplace that feels like home and is both mentally and physically comfortable is a source of inspiration for the team. Try to incorporate elements into your office that allow employees to take breaks and recharge so they can be productive throughout the day. At the same time, these places can also be used to talk with colleagues about work-related issues. A place that gives a relaxing feeling and thus makes you more creative and open to new ideas.

What are the 3 key components of a modern office?

1) Workspace

When designing the space, a company should encourage diversity and flexibility, thus allowing team members to use modular furniture, for example, to rearrange an area to suit their current work needs.

Workstation flexibility depends on the individual pieces of furniture that are used. Incorporate active furniture rather than being stuck with the standard desk setup. Seating and workspace options should allow team members to change positions and locations frequently to avoid physical and mental strain.

2) Technology

Modern offices are all about enabling their employees to work from anywhere, which means ensuring that their work can be accessed from anywhere in the office. At the same time, the wireless concept extends to more than just working with Wi-Fi. Your office should have wireless charging solutions, have built-in outlets in desks and tables, and use Bluetooth headsets. An open office can create clutter, but a wireless concept can create structure and provide flexibility for team members.

Collaboration is another important aspect of modern offices that can and should be supported by technology. Providing tools that facilitate collaboration automatically influence team productivity and efficiency. The integration of office management tools is essential here. Furthermore, collaboration extends to the cloud, as cloud-based group apps enable all members of the team to work together on the same project, from any location, using any device.

In addition, care should be taken to ensure that the selected technology supports a wide range of devices. A modern workplace should no longer tie its employees to a computer, but should allow them to work from any device, be it a laptop, tablet, or cell phone. The transition from one device to another must be seamless, otherwise productivity suffers.

3) Team members

Your employees should feel free to choose their preferred work location. They should know from the first day they walk into the new, modernly designed office that they can work wherever they want in the office. That may be in the lounge one day, at their individually booked desk another, or even on the balcony. As long as employees:inside work productively, it doesn't matter where they do so.

As briefly mentioned before, healthy and happy team members are more productive workers. Thus, a company should also contribute to the health and wellness of its employees. This can take many forms: a refrigerator stocked with healthy foods, a yoga corner, or a running group during lunch. These wellness components can help to distract and relax employees for a short time so that they can then concentrate fully on the work in hand.

If we talk about the place of work of each employee, this is more flexible than ever before in a modern working environment. Here, employees are encouraged to choose work locations that suit their current needs. For example, in the morning it may be a desk that is located to encourage collaboration, and in the afternoon it may be a workstation at the other end of the office that is more screened off, allowing for focus and concentration. Desk sharing in a flexible office not only means more flexibility, but also cost savings for the company, because workstations are optimally staffed at once and there is hardly any unused space.

Other benefits that desk sharing offers include the following:

• Creativity: Desk sharing means agile working. Employees can choose where they work and when, and this movement in turn promotes exchange among team members and thus constantly brings new influences and creativity.

• Empathy: Most of the time, the different departments don't even know what exactly is going on in the office next door. With desk sharing, however, everyone gets in touch with everyone else at once. This creates a flow of information and thus also an understanding for the working methods, challenges and needs of the other employees.

• Employer branding: Desk sharing is now synonymous with a modern and forward-looking workplace. This can positively influence the brand image.

• Satisfaction: An office should be organized in such a way that it meets the needs of employees for different tasks. Spaces should be optimally aligned with work processes, which team members can then use accordingly thanks to desk sharing tools.

Since employees may not yet be used to desk sharing and flexible working, it is important to motivate them and show them how it is possible to use every area of the office as needed and become more productive in the process.

However, a modern office does not mean that components of a traditional office may not remain. Certain jobs require a more traditional work environment in order to keep the entire team focused. For example, the sales team being on the phone all day would only unnecessarily disrupt the creativity and concentration of the rest of the staff. Thus, separate rooms for certain positions still make sense in modern offices.

Modern office design means knowing the needs and wishes of your employees and taking them seriously. Workers no longer want cubicles, but spaces that feel close and more human. The possibility of flexibility and mobility helps to make work productive and creative day in and day out.

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