4 Latest Office Design Trends

Designing an office is no easy task. You have to ensure that you match the evolving needs of your business also while embracing innovation and ensuring that you can still incorporate the companies ideal culture and vision. The bottom line might just be this:

You’ve run out of ideas.

You’ve might have made updates in the past, but people just don’t seem to like them.

Or things may not go as intended.

In this article, we want to show you some of the latest office design trends which are being used all throughout the industry to help bring back the enjoyment of being in the office for 8+ hours a day.

Without further ado, let’s discuss 4 of The Latest Office Design Trends of 2021…

 

Sustainable Design

At its core roots, sustainable design is the integration of recycled, suitable sourced materials which are used to bring an everyday working area to life.

This is of course great for the environment. Additionally, It allows you to bring the outdoors inside.

Which we all know nature can make you feel much more relaxed.

An ideal mood you’re going to want your staff to feel if you truly wish to get the best work out of them.

And this is what this type of design trend tries to achieve.

Of course, the other key benefit here is that you are also creating eco-friendly space, due to the materials which you are going to be using to create these spaces.

I shouldn’t really need to sell you on this, we all know what is currently happening with our planet and if we can change the places we work into an area that is much better for the planet, then we absolutely should.

Doing so will also inspire your staff to even make eco-friendly changes in their own lives.

Something our beautiful planet will appreciate too.

Key Features of the Sustainable Design Trend

• Plant-based materials
• Renewable energy
• Multi-functionality
• Low-impact manufacturing

 

Flexible Working

Flexible workspaces have been around for the last couple of years, but they have picked up significantly in the past year or so and we feel are only going to see more popularity in the coming months.

This is mainly due to the times we are living in and the general experience of workers all over the planet.

Working from home is more and more common nowadays, your employees might choose to work remotely in their favorite coffee shops instead of coming into the workspace.

What this means is that no longer do your employees need their own designated desks.

What you can do instead is offer your staff different workspaces which they can use.

Perhaps you have a room full of comfy chairs where people can sit for an hour or two on their laptops.

Or you have booths where teams can focus on projects together.

Essentially, the flexible working trend shifts away from the typical idea of giving everyone their own individual desks and instead offers multiple different places in your company where people can choose to work depending on what their workload is looking like.

Allowing people to be much more flexible with the way they work whilst also bringing that casual work-from-home style right into the walls of your company.

Key Features of Flexible Working

• Open environment
• Less about structure and more about freedom
• Giving employees more freedom = a better working experience

 

Communal Working

Now working from home is much more common, when your employees need to travel to the workspace to do their tasks for the day, for them is seen as an event rather than a typical daily occurrence.

What we mean by this is that they see this as an opportunity to reconnect with their colleagues, be inspired by other people’s ideas, and ultimately work together as they used to.

Because of this, your offices should help to encourage this.

This can be achieved by having open-plan offices where you’re almost welcoming people to chit-chat about how things are going, instead of boxing them in their own office cubicles where the freedom to talk is discouraged.

This creates a better work-experience overall, and people will generally enjoy coming to work more.

Which from an employer’s point of view, means you’re going to get better work out of them.

With this trend, it’s key to focus on the amenities and communal experience your staff can have.

Making them feel like they actually WANT to be there rather they NEEDING to be there.

Key Features of Communal Working

• Open Plan areas to reflect the freedom they have
• Amenities that make peoples lives a little more efficient
• Communal areas which encourage interaction between people

 

Dynamic Spaces

It’s all about trying to get as much out of your office space as possible and with dynamic spaces you can very easily achieve this.

Employees are looking for personalized private spaces where they can get on with their most important tasks.

These spaces should also include functional furniture as this helps them to stay creative and active which will feed into them being far more productive.

You should look to add things like:

• A range of Ergonomic chairs
• Height adjustable desk
• Plenty of handy office equipment

These are just some of the things which are going to make your employees’ lives a whole lot easier whilst they create the awesome work you need them to.

Key Features of Dynamic Spaces

• Ergonomic furniture
• Dynamic workstations
• Personalized spaces

 

Final Words on The Latest Office Design Trends

There are plenty of ways you could redesign your office spaces to get the best out of your employees, so much so even what we’ve laid out in this article still might make you feel like you can’t decide what you should do.

What we would suggest is; understand who you have working for you.

We are not kidding when we say this; literally, go ask your employees what they want out of their office space.

At the end of the day, they are the ones who are going to be working in these areas for 8+ hours a day, so they will know what they are seeking.

It’s all fine and well-reading articles like this one to figure out what you could do to update your old cubical office layout, but if it doesn’t work for your employees (and your future employees) then it’s a waste of time and money.

Use this article as inspiration and to help you brainstorm new ideas but make sure you ask your employees what they actually want from their place of work.