Is There Any Need For An Office?

In the future, the office will promote "collaboration" and "innovation" with an open and relaxing space atmosphere.

Post COVID-19 era

The office of the future sets off design changes

Will the office decline? After getting used to remote work, how will people return to work? And if the office is still necessary, how will it develop in the future? Office Design in the post-epidemic era has set off a wave of very different discussions.

Is there any need for an office?

This is the discussion of how the epidemic has changed people's lives during the lock-down period. The extreme argument is that the type of remote work will become king, and the office may disappear or decline.

However, most of the analysis still believes that although digital and communication technologies have rapidly changed the pace and style of people's work, the office is also constantly evolving, and it is difficult to be replaced for the time being.

The office will not disappear, but will continue to evolve

Dan Zakai, CEO of Mindspace, a shared space brand with many locations around the world, wrote on the Forbes website that they sent a survey to workplace workers in London and found that what office workers miss most is living with colleagues. Feel.

The New York Times also analyzed in the report published this year that the office will not disappear or decline, on the contrary, it will develop more flexibility and diversity. With the rise of off-site office and remote work, some offices are clustered for business Districts may become residential areas, and some residential areas will be mixed with office functions. As for enterprises, more diversified office formats will be allowed, because under the worries of time-consuming commuting and the spread of the epidemic, how to retain talents has become a more difficult issue, so it is necessary to propose solutions that better meet the needs of talents.

The New York Times also stated in another report that in the post-epidemic era, whether employees choose to work from home or not, the role the office will play in the future will definitely focus on promoting “collaborative” and “innovative” work; as for choices When working at home or remotely, you can focus on a specific job.

McKinsey, a well-known business management consulting company, also pointed out in the research report that companies are already facing a moment of making a new decision. They must consider the logic of office design with different thinking to support the priorities of organizational development, and the post-epidemic era will accelerate such changes. "If a company's office mainly wants to promote collaboration among employees, rather than working independently, should 80% of the space be changed to a collaborative area?

Weworth Furniture CoLink-Box meets single-person focused and multi-person meetings with countless flexible and changeable combinations.

The creative economy requires more flexible offices

The types and needs of the workplace are undergoing drastic changes. The office of the future must be changed to truly reflect the times we live in.

In the era of creative economy, how to increase efficiency through the office, extend the happiness of workers, and even take care of the daily needs of workers, so that employees can give full play to their talents, has become a key challenge for companies in the future.

AECOM Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. (AECOM), one of the Fortune 500 companies, pointed out in (Future Office: Next-generation workplace design) that office design will face three inevitable trends:

Trend 1-Lock in design to adapt to the "circular economy".

Trend 2-Office design will make collaboration based on information sharing more convenient.

Trend 3-Individual needs will become the most critical consideration

Through the lively and diverse open public space scenes, various creative ideas are stimulated to meet the needs of diverse work.

The office design will conform to the "circular economy"

The first point means that in the past, office space design followed the "linear economy" model-people mine and take a certain resource, then produce it, use it by consumers, and discard it when it becomes unusable, like a straight-line process. However, with the gradual shortage of natural resources and the intensification of climate change, this consumption pattern cannot be maintained for a long time. Therefore, more emphasis is placed on sustainable environmental protection and a "recycling economy" with the possibility of regeneration. "Linear economy" is transformed into an economy that relies on the recycling of ecological resources.

 This paradigm shift will naturally affect the design logic of the future office. For example, the use of more flexible modular designs will largely be reflected in the configuration choices of office buildings and office software and hardware; even future office design will no longer just look at the immediate situation, but will become more common. Considering the "future"-can office furniture be reused in different configurations? Can more resources be recovered? Can the service life of hardware and software be extended in various ways? These will become the focus of design considerations.

Focus on collaboration, easier to respond to individual needs

The next major office trend is that no matter how the times change, the most important thing in the workplace is to play "assist" and "support" backing for workers. As information and communication technology play an increasingly important role in our lives, how to make workers "work together" more efficiently has become a current challenge.

Reflected in the real scene, electronic products allow people to work almost anytime and anywhere. Just relying on mobile phones, tablets, and laptops allows us to connect with the world and work with others at any time. With the more mature development of wearable devices in the future, people no longer need to stay in their own corners. They can collaborate with others flexibly and flexibly in all places in the office.

Therefore, the future office design must be able to play a certain "bridge" role, linking the private sector with the workplace, so that we can respond to the calls of work more quickly and deal with official affairs more efficiently.

Breaking the space boundary between "formal" and "informal" has become the highlight of the new generation of offices. People will no longer be trapped in their own cubicles and work hard. Instead, they will more often use informal discussions, chats, or even video and exchanges with different places to stimulate various creative ideas. Therefore, it is more important to create "non-traditional" spaces suitable for "collaboration". Only by creating lively and diverse open public spaces can they meet the needs of more diverse work.

The semi-open meeting room equipped with remote meeting equipment allows colleagues to enjoy the convenience brought by smart and digital technology.

The office is for people, not the other way around

As for the third trend, it is more intriguing and richer in conceptual changes. "People-oriented" is no longer a slogan. Putting user needs as the top priority will be the core key to the next generation of offices. Even if more automated equipment will replace human labor, machines cannot replace people's communication, understanding, and cooperation, which in turn stimulates the process of innovation. Therefore, the future workplace environment will pay more attention to human characteristics, and actual office users are the protagonists!

The future office design will focus on how to form a cohesive group, no matter in physical space or virtual situation, it will stimulate creativity and productivity with a comfortable environment. Because employees are the most invaluable assets of an enterprise, many companies have realized this and are more willing to invest in space shaping to improve their comfort and identity at work.

No one can deny that happy employees have strong work kinetic energy and productivity. Therefore, the office of the future will not only emphasize hardware, but also focus on the creation of an overall intangible atmosphere. Even temperature, lighting, sound... are all shaping the situation. The key point is to allow employees to devote themselves to their work after they settle down physically and mentally, and to increase their sense of identity.

The point of "valuing the human dimension" will be reflected in the increasing number of "informal" spaces in the office. People use the free movement of their bodies and consciousness to exchange opinions and ideas, and even generate more constructive opinions and inspirations in the seemingly leisure and resting environment.

In short, although work must be professional and orderly, it must also find a balance that feels more free and more relaxing in considering the needs of human nature.

The "people-oriented" office design combines openness and privacy, encouraging colleagues to freely choose office scenes based on their needs.

These changing trends are no longer predictions, but "progress now", which is happening all over the world. Business owners, interior designers, property developers, and workplace workers must all be aware of this power of change and ride the wave of change to make the work environment more attractive.

The above is the long-term observation trend of Weworthoffice, and advanced layout, this year proposed the next generation of office space: Activa smart office solutions. With the five working modes of “focus, collaboration, learning, socializing, and relaxation”, we create a variety of flexible office scenarios to provide companies with a better office experience, help employees maintain their work passion and create value, and make work more convenient.