Workplace Design & Employee Behavior

Hey there,

As new ways of working have emerged and preferences for in-office work have changed, so too has the modern office. And that transformation is not over - in fact, we believe it’s just getting started. This week we’re covering space design and its impact on employee activity. Let’s dive in.?

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The Future of Workplace Design

The office hasn’t been the same since the pandemic. Occupancy and utilization rates never recovered, and people are enjoying working from home at least some of the time. Even though people’s working patterns have changed, the office hasn’t really followed suit and with 90% of companies planning to RTO by the end of 2024, the office could use some serious updates.

We have started to see some shifts in workplace space mix. According to The Occupancy Intelligence Index , there's been a slight increase in Open Collaboration Space (Q1 6.7%, Q4 7.5%) and a slight decrease in Desks (Q1 72.1%, Q4 70.9%). This is a step in the right direction, but if people are using the office for in-person collaboration, design has some catching up to do.

It’s not that we should eliminate desks and turn the entire office into one big collaboration space, but there’s room for space mix to shift. Rather than have an office layout mostly made up of desks, workplace leaders should consider finding a new balance that supports their team's new working patterns.

The right office design will look different for every office. For instance, when looking at space mix by industry in 2023:

• Infrastructure & Public Enterprise companies have about half focus and half collaboration space, with 56.37% focus space (Offices and Desks) and 43.63% collaboration space (Collaboration Rooms, Conference Rooms, and Open Collaboration Space).?
• Industrial & Logistics had the highest number of phone booths in its space mix (4.82%), while Infrastructure & Public Enterprise had the lowest (0%).?
• Energy, Oil & Gas had the highest percentage of desks (85.99%) in its space mix.?

Your workplace strategy should be built for your office. Understanding employee behavior and needs will make it easy to design a workplace that’s worth going to. For more global ?insights and benchmarks, check out the full Occupancy Intelligence Index.

In Other News....

• The future of workplace design should be focused on creating flexible spaces that integrate technology to meet the changing needs of the workforce.
• Is an instagrammable workplace design all it takes to get people back in the office? Some might say otherwise.?

See ya next time ??

The VergeSense Team