The need for a comprehensive hybrid work office design strategy has grown drastically in recent years. Although the number of companies implementing “return to office” mandates has increased since the start of 2023, employees still demand flexibility.
Companies that can’t offer their teams the right blend of spaces for collaborative, focused, and creative work risk losing essential levels of engagement, productivity, and crucial talent. While the structure and design of hybrid offices can vary depending on the nature of your teams and their work, focus spaces are becoming increasingly crucial.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at why today’s business leaders need focus spaces to empower and optimize their teams.
The Evolution of Hybrid Work Office Design
Over the years, the modern “office environment” has evolved multiple times, adapting to trends in the working environment, new generations, and new demands. In the last decade alone, we’ve seen companies evolve from using traditional “cubicles” and personal offices, where each employee had their own dedicated workstation, to creating “open workspaces” for collaboration.
During the pandemic, workplace restrictions increased the focus on enabling remote work and empowering teams to spend a portion of their time in the office as part of a “hybrid strategy.” This led to the development of new types of office spaces, from hot-desking environments and office neighborhoods to huddle rooms for fast-paced collaboration.
We’re in an era where many companies encourage their teams to re-enter the office, even if it’s part-time. To ensure employees want to visit the office and can continue to leverage the same levels of productivity they achieve at home, business leaders need to build multi-faceted office environments.
Increasingly, organizations are creating highly flexible working environments segmented into different zones or spaces for focus work, collaborative work, and more.
The Rise of Focus Spaces in Office Design
As a component of hybrid work office design, focus spaces build on the concept that many employees need distraction-free environments for different tasks. It’s not just individual strategic or creative work that requires focus. Meetings in the hybrid world are often more effective when employees can access dedicated spaces tuned for collaborative activities.
Focus spaces can serve various purposes in the office, from giving employees access to private booths for confidential conversations to enabling comprehensive meetings. However, these spacespaces’ goal is to eliminate the distractions that damage workplace productivity.
Studies show that information workers are plagued by distractions in the average office environment every 10.5 minutes. Worse, these employees can take 25 minutes to regain their focus after each distraction. Focus spaces eliminate these distractions by giving team members dedicated environments for specific tasks.
They aim to empower staff with the proper collection of easy-to-use technology, from video conferencing systems to digital whiteboards, and block out external distractions.
The Benefits of Focus Spaces in Hybrid Work Office Design
The popularity of focus spaces in hybrid work office design is growing for numerous reasons. Not only do the suitable focus spaces help to facilitate better concentration in the modern office, but they can also boost collaboration, employee wellbeing, and engagement.
Some of the core reasons focus spaces are so valuable in hybrid work office design include:
1. Helping to Entice Employees Back into the Office
Many employers believe office-based work is still essential today. It can help to facilitate better collaboration among teams, strengthen workplace connections, and improve company culture.
However, after employees discovered the benefits of working from home, many were reluctant to return to the office. One study in 2022 even found that 20% of employees refused to return to the office as often as they were asked to do so by their employers.
Focus spaces in hybrid work office design can help to navigate this problem. Employees are more likely to return to the office if they can access the necessary resources to perform better in their roles. One study discovered that an increase in focus spaces for private work, meetings, and video calls was one of the main reasons employees would consider a return to the office.
2. Maintaining Flexibility
Flexibility is one of the main hallmarks of an effective hybrid work strategy. TodayToday’ss are highly diverse workers with their own workplace preferences and needs. Companies need to consider this when investing in hybrid work office design.
Creating spaces catering to various types of work, from focus spaces to collaborative zones, ensures each employee can access the exact resources they need to produce their best work.
Giving team members a range of work settings, from individual workstations to quiet areas, means they can choose the best solution to suit their needs. This ensures employees can still access the benefits of “flexible work” even when their tasks require them to visit the office.
3. Enhancing Hybrid Collaboration
The hybrid workplace needs to bridge the gaps between a multitude of employees in different environments. It must enable in-office workers to collaborate consistently with remote employees, external contacts, mobile field workers, and more.
Focus spaces in hybrid work office design are excellent for facilitating collaborative work. They allow teams or individuals to step into rooms built for collaboration, with direct access to video conferencing and audio tools, displays, screens, and digital whiteboards.
Some companies even take their focus workspaces to the next level with innovative solutions, like extended reality headsets. These allow team members to enter virtual environments to share content and connect with distributed staff in real time.
4. Optimizing Employee Productivity
Focus spaces have always been a valuable tool for enhancing productivity by helping team members to focus on specific tasks and workflows. However, they’re becoming more critical as employees tackle more complex workflows. AI and automated systems take over several repetitive tasks, allowing staff to prioritize more complex work.
To thrive in this landscape, employees must mitigate distractions wherever possible and access spaces that can hone their focus. Unfortunately, many open-plan office spaces make it hard to retain concentration. Our brains are wired to monitor all stimuli, from sights to sounds.
Focus spaces are essential in a hybrid work environment, where distractions can be more prevalent, particularly with multiple people hosting meetings and conversations simultaneously. They can minimize noise disruptions and even improve the privacy of conversations.
5. Improving Employee Wellbeing and Engagement
Employee well-being is a crucial consideration in any hybrid work office design strategy. The happier, more engaged, and less stressed your team members are, the more likely they’ll deliver excellent results. While there are numerous ways to improve employee well-being, from using ergonomic furniture to creating “well-being initiatives,” focus spaces can play a crucial role.
Office focus spaces can help reduce stress and anxiety in team members dealing with complex work. One study found that 41% of workers were more energized and relaxed after spending time in a focus space. Additionally, focus spaces can be specifically designed to promote well-being.
Office libraries, green spaces, and even outdoor relaxation areas are excellent for giving employees a much-needed break. These spaces can help to minimize the risk of employee burnout. Plus, they’re excellent for giving businesses a competitive edge when attracting new talent.
Mastering Hybrid Work Office Design in 2024
Over the years, countless experiments with office design have shown companies one thing: there’s no one “right” way to work. Some people are more successful working away from the office entirely. Others benefit from being able to collaborate with staff 24/7. Others need to be able to balance collaborative and focused work regularly.
As the workplace continues to evolve, with new generations entering the office environment, companies must adapt their design strategies accordingly. Today’s offices need:
- Inclusive, collaborative environments: Spaces designed to ensure all team members feel engaged and “included” in conversations. This could include hybrid workstations with video conferencing capabilities. It may also include booths for meetings between remote, in-office, and mobile field workers.
- Dedicated focus spaces: Hybrid office environments should offer dedicated spaces to eliminate distractions. Spaces designated for private calls and team meetings should minimize background noise, improve privacy, and enable employees to access all the resources they need for successful work.
- Plug and play technology: To preserve flexibility in the office environment, companies should invest in technology that allows any room to transform into a meeting room or focus space. Plug-and-play technology, such as video bars, meeting room kits, and similar solutions, allows teams to move between different types of work quickly.
Most importantly, companies need to design agile, adaptable spaces that can evolve to suit the needs of their changing employees. Workspaces should be flexible enough to accommodate rapid technological changes. This includes the rise of the metaverse and the use of artificial intelligence and mobile devices.
Focus Spaces for the Future of Hybrid Work
Although many companies seek ways to drive employees back into the office environment, the demand for hybrid and flexible work continues. Employees today want to access the best environments for different types of work without limitations.
When mastering hybrid work office design in 2024, companies will need to ensure they meet the different needs of their diverse team members. Focus spaces will play an essential role in preserving productivity and concentration.
They’ll also be crucial to enabling exceptional collaboration, improving employee well-being, and even reducing talent turnover.
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