How Will the Period of Home Offices Change the Way Our Workplaces Look?
One group of people claims the period of compulsory home offices showed everyone we all can be working from home while others were only cemented in their view of the necessity of social contacts in the workplace. One way or another, the months of home office will inevitably change the way our offices look. How exactly?
Nicer Offices
The first significant change our workplaces will probably not avoid will come as a delight to those who could not wait to come back to their office. It is widely expected that the offices of tomorrow will care even more about their design and the way employees feel when working in them.
This general trend, which was visible already before the pandemic (and the ever more popular annual competitions for the nicest offices are a clear proof of this) has become even more striking. Just like we appreciate every meeting with our family, we also think higher of every social contact in the workplace which we want to experience in a nice environment. Almost all of us have a desk with a computer and some dull background at home but only companies that care about the comfort of their employees have a stylish common area or a colourful place for relaxing.
Something Will Arise, Something Will Die
Another expected change in the field of offices will be a gradual reduction of the biggest spaces in the workplace. Large common dining rooms and open spaces will make place for smaller rooms and cubicles. Other than for the obvious hygienic reasons, this trend has one extra common denominator which will play a big role in the upcoming years – mental health.
Small cubicles in common areas will serve as an ideal mix of public and private places. We can also expect a bigger focus on the opportunities to catch some fresh air in the workplace – a demand for terraces and balconies will only increase with the lessons we took from the months of pandemic.
Hygiene and Sustainability
The evergreen of post-covid offices will definitely come in the form of a larger focus on hygiene. Not only will we wash and disinfect our hands more often, we will also think twice about the need to organise any bigger meeting and will focus more on automatisation – automatic doors in the bathroom, automatic faucets and automatic soap dispensers.
Together with hygiene, another topic is going to increase in its importance in the upcoming years – sustainability. Not only is the amount of companies beginning to understand the inevitability of acting responsibly towards nature increasing, this issue also becomes an important factor when choosing the next job for young people. In a situation when two job offers are more or less similar, the deciding factor might easily come in the form of a more eco-friendly approach towards nature from the side of the company.
