Miguel Aguado, product manager at Lutron Electronics looks at the changes in office life.
In the last couple of years, we have seen a dramatic shift in the way offices operate. With the pandemics end, many businesses found themselves in limbo, struggling to make the office attractive again after years of remote and hybrid working.
With 73% of organisations facing challenges getting workers to return to the workplace, business leaders grappled with ideas on how to bridge the gap between the benefits employees enjoy at home and the desire of employers to have their staff back in the office - and this led to the rise of the “everything office”.
From GPs and dentists to gyms and spas, more premium office buildings now include spaces for various activities, not just for work. The rise of these premium spaces aims to provide staff with the same flexibility that they would experience working from home, whilst in the office. Now whilst this seems logical, it naturally has a big impact on building design.
To make sure buildings maintain relevance and usability into the future and avoid a heightened number of rip-outs and re-designs in the coming years (which would be negative from both a financial and sustainability perspective), flexibility and adaptability will be crucial. With this in mind, let’s explore how developers can futureproof premium office spaces. What is an ‘everything office’?
The concept of the ‘everything office’ has emerged as a result of employers wanting their staff to return to the office but struggling to entice them back. To overcome this challenge, many businesses are now investing big in office spaces that offer more than just a place to work. Building owners and developers have also caught wind of this challenge and are now trying to help by creating office spaces that facilitate this new environment.
The everything office looks to provide staff with an environment that encourages them to leave the comforts of the home and work from the comfort of a ‘luxury’ office space, equipped with everything from gyms, restaurant and shops, to cafes, spas and cinemas. By blending these luxury facilities into the work environment, businesses hope to restore the ‘office buzz’ rather than the remote routines many employees have become used to.
Sopers House is a great example of how a company has successfully launched an everything office space, offering members the space and amenities to pursue their professional and personal interests in one place. From high-quality offices, sophisticated co-working environments and a gym, restaurant and terrace all under one roof, Sopers House have worked to create an office building so attractive to employees that they never want to leave.
With luxury office spaces like this on the rise, developers are being quick to design spaces with rooftop bars and yoga facilities. However, before they jump headfirst into building pools and spas, there are a few key building design considerations to get right first.
Key building design considerations for the everything office
Despite fine dining facilities and built-in gyms being big motivators in enticing staff back into the office, this will only go so far if office spaces don’t have the right foundations to support employee experience – and this starts with having the right technology in place. As the nature of offices and the workplace evolve, the technology needed to support our workspaces must do the same.
As people start to return to the office, employees no longer want to work in silos within traditional layouts, they want collaborative, adaptable spaces that can support a range of tasks from deep focus activities to open brainstorm sessions. With workspaces constantly adapting to the needs of the employee, the technology that underpins these spaces must do the same to ensure that working areas are equipped for all functions, and office lighting is a key example of this.
Smart lighting systems put lighting functions in the hands of the user, allowing employees to easily change lighting settings including intensity, colour temperature, to fit their preferences and needs through specialised, intuitive mobile applications or integrated systems – empowering them to design custom lighting scenes that support unique everyday activities and mood. This flexible function is quickly becoming a desired workplace feature and can be a powerful tool in increasing employee satisfaction and retention.
However, lighting isn't the only technical consideration building designers need to be conscious of when it comes to futureproofing the design of the everything office. Improving air quality, creating flexible workspaces, and providing modern changing facilities for people who want to cycle or run to work will be vital in avoiding building rip-outs in the coming years.
Establishing a corporate identity through lighting design
Creating spaces that are positive, healthy, and enjoyable to be in has become crucial in a society where how we use offices has changed, becoming more experiential. Having lighting and building functions that are human-centric and prioritise employee wellbeing and comfort will leave a lasting impact on your employees and have even bigger benefits for business outcomes.
In today’s modern world of work, office design and the type of everything office businesses offer their teams is now a key part of how people assess what type of employer they have. Employee experience is now being shaped by the facilities businesses provide, the intuitiveness of the technology they offer and how the building design benefits occupants. As such, creating a workplace that supports wellbeing and comfort goes beyond building cafés and mini bars, buildings of the future must be underpinned by something deeper, and that solution lies in modern, human-centric technology.