The importance of creating a five-star office workspace
According to a survey conducted by the National Office for Statistics, more than 85% of employees working remotely during the pandemic want a hybrid approach instead of returning to the office full-time. Teams have demonstrated that work can be done effectively and efficiently remotely, often without the distractions of the open-planned office, favoured by many corporates. As we reach the end of our second summer in a pandemic, the chances are you are thinking about returning to your office in some capacity.
But what will the office you are returning to look like? What does your workspace need to deliver to enhance the experience for what you can achieve remotely?
As we look forward to what the office of the future will look like, there are two major considerations:
1. How can I connect remote and in-office teams to have the same meeting
experience?
2. How can I create a collaborative environment for teams that drives business
productivity?
There has been a meteoric rise in the number of video meetings because of COVID, with over 300 million of us using Zoom every single day, leading many organisations to look at how they can equip their meeting space with technology to bridge the gap between the remote and in-office worker as well as increasing the number of spaces where people can meet for one-to-one meetings?
The change in how we work with undoubtedly require companies to rethink office space and layout, creating spaces for spontaneous meetings and upgrading existing meeting rooms, with video-enabled displays with functionality for data and content collaboration. By creating a more immersive environment for workplace collaboration will enhance the user experience for your teams, leading to more productive outcomes, but how can this be achieved quickly and efficiently?
Here are 3 considerations to create a fluid working environment:
1. Do a meeting space audit.
Is your meeting room technology sufficient and video enabled? Do you have the tools to make meetings collaborative through video, such as an additional display to share data alongside the traditional grid view?
2. Reconsider your office layout
Can you create more dynamic spaces for spontaneous catchups and one-to-one meetings with flexible furniture and technology.
3. Invest in cloud-based platforms and apps
Having data and content stored and available in the cloud ensures that your business is ‘always on’. There are some great tools out there for team collaboration such as Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace or more app-based platforms such as Monday.
By continuing the digital transformation that we were all forced to adopt during the pandemic, organisations can accelerate productivity and collaboration for their business. Upgrading meeting rooms from traditional projectors and flipcharts to a digital environment enabled for video collaboration or creating more spaces for ad-hoc meetings and brainstorming as well as investing in technology that is easy to use and accessible with inevitably lead to faster decision making and improve team engagement.
At Urben, we truly understand what the workspace of the future needs to look like to be truly functional and operational for your employees. Our solutions are designed to help organisations enable video collaboration throughout the office space, not just the meeting room. Our solutions can be deployed everywhere, from the reception through to large town hall spaces, delivering flexible products for every environment or situation.
We have created different types of working scenarios at our experience centre in the UK. Book a virtual tour of the different types of workspaces and see our vision of how furniture and technology work in harmony together to create a five-star workplace that encourages teamworking for the hybrid workforce.
