The Changing Office- part 3

In Part 1 of this blog we summarised the main factors influencing the office environment now due to Covid-19 and the lock-down.

Part 2 looked at the effects of change on the office environment in the short term (immediate to 2 years).

In Part 3 we look at the possible mid to long-term changes.

The office in the mid to long term:

As lease agreements come to an end, companies that have downsized their staff compliment may look at downsizing their workspace. These are the advantages:

· Lower costs (rental and ops costs)

· Less furniture and equipment required also reduces fit-out costs.

· Smaller footprint, for the eco-conscious business, this is a major plus.

· Purposeful design:

What we mean by this is, the office space will be required to ‘pack a punch’.

And every space must be carefully considered.

What does the purposeful office look like?

This is a long-term change, made by the business that has firmly established its new workstyle, where teams can work remotely, mostly, and coming together is very purposeful and specific.

Imagine an office that allows seated desking for one or two small teams at a time (socially distanced of course). This limited desking is used on a rotational basis, teams take shifts in the office, per day/per week/per month depending on the nature of the team and business. This means that certain teams can occupy the office on certain days for collaborative work, meetings, training and connecting. The office space, therefore, must contain spaces that are created to serve as meeting/training/collaboration/connecting spaces. And most certainly, some of these areas can double up in function. Now we have an office space that is small and serves the company perfectly. No space is left unused.

No doubt, as time passes, and we get past the Covid-19 destruction and fear, some level of normality will return, and businesses will find their balance. Some companies will have changed their workstyle completely, while others may have made some minor modifications. Most certainly, every company will have changed in some way.

Why not make the most of this? Why not embrace the change and create a new, better way of working? If you’re asking these questions and looking at the positive side of all of this change, then give us a call and lets chat about your NEXT move.