Over the last decade or so, the office has seen some massive advances. With the increase in cloud services, wireless computing, remote working, and so on, it seems that things are only going to keep on changing – although maybe not as much as some people predict (not just yet anyway).
In our latest blog series, ‘The future of office furniture’, we’re looking at some of these changes in different areas of the office, such as office acoustics, eco-friendly offices, and office chairs. Make sure you subscribe to the Carrwood Park blog to receive the latest blog each week.
In part one of our four-part series, we take a look at some of the general advances that are taking place in today’s workspaces:
A cleaner office
If you stepped into an office from ten years ago, and then stepped into an office from today, you would see the difference immediately. One of the most noticeable changes is that the workplace is being made to look cleaner, sharper and more organised.
Not only is clutter on desks visually unattractive, but it can also be distracting – leading to lower employee productivity. This has resulted in more companies asking for their visible wires to be hidden away, which generally leads to cleaner desks. With wires coming from so many different devices, such as computers, chargers, telephones, etc. it’s amazing to see how much space can be made available from hiding your wires away, or even by going completely wireless. Just look at the difference that a clean desk can make.
It’s also becoming a common theme to have more colour in the office. Instead of opting for a plain white or grey colour scheme, businesses are adding hints of bright colours around the office, for example with the use of yellow stationary, blue rugs, red sofas or even simply a green plant. The use of different colours can have various different benefits, for example, an increase in happiness, productivity and creativity – it’s no surprise that so many companies are opting for a brighter office.
Mixed space offices
Did you know that 54% of offices in the UK are open planned? This is quite a contrast when you look back at offices in the past, where most of the open plan offices were for call centres, or other industries where workers performed repetitive tasks.
When you look at some of the benefits of open plan offices, it’s obvious why so many businesses are jumping on the bandwagon. One of the most important advantages of this kind of workspace is the increased opportunity for networking and collaboration that you would never be able to get from a private office. Saying that, before you switch to a completely open plan office, you should consider what type of space is most beneficial for your particular business – a mix of both open and closed plan offices could be a better option for you.
More businesses are also beginning to introduce ‘third space’ in their offices. These are agile work spaces away from the main office where employees can relax, collaborate or even just find somewhere quiet to get their work done. This was originally a popular trend in digital companies and agencies, but we’ve seen a lot more businesses in other industries introduce these brilliant spaces. Third spaces are great for boosting employee productivity and creativity – after all, you tend to do the best thinking away from your desk. We find that our atriums are extremely popular for informal meetings and for providing our residents with space to get their heads down and work.
Flexible working
Flexible working is simply a working schedule that’s different from your normal one. This typically means that your working hours or place of work are different to usual. Legally, employees have the right to request flexible working, as long as they have been with the employer for at least 6 months – although the employer still has the right to turn the request down, and there’s nothing to say that the employee can’t make a request before the 6 month mark.
The amount of people with access to remote working has increased by 300% in the last 20 years, and it seems like that figure is only going to continue rising! It’s natural that some employers are still cautious to offer this perk to employees, as a barrier of trust often needs to be established before the benefits of remote working can be reaped.
More people are also hot desking or using co-working spaces, seemingly because of the networking benefits offered by these popular working options. This all means that less people are using desks, which has influenced the type of spaces that companies are searching for – instead of buying, for example, space for 12 desks, companies now buy space for 12 people.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Carrwood Park blog for the next instalment of our ‘The future of office furniture’ blog series, where we’ll be looking at the future of office acoustics.
Are you looking for Leeds serviced office space? Why not book a viewing at Carrwood Park’s professional serviced office facilities today?
We’d like to thank Carolyn Ramsden from Richardson BE Distributors for her expert insights into the world of office furniture and helping us compile this blog series.
