The Future of the Office

One of the main concerns that many business owners face nowadays trying to ‘future proof’ their office space for the years to come. Some may choose to look at doing this themselves, and some may choose to hire an office fit-out company to do this for them. However, this is always a big goal! As we all know, the office is changing and it is going to change even quicker in the years to come. So what does the future of the office look like? Advanced Commercial Interiors take a look.

Less Permanent Desks, More Hot Desks

One of the main changes we are going to see coming into fruition in the new year and beyond is the rise of hot desks, as well as the fall of permanent desks. Many employers allow their staff to work from home on certain days, as well as implement ‘flexitime’ schemes into their business. All of this means that there are a lot of empty desks in offices for large proportions of the day.

For businesses, hot desks are a great way to make use of this space, as well as bring in more money for their business. As we go into 2019 and even further into the future, we will see more and more hot desks being implemented into workspaces across the UK and further afield.

The Open Office? What Open Office?

It wasn’t too long ago when we started to see employers making the switch from cubicles and closed off spaces to implement the open office culture into their workplace. It seemed the logical choice! Why? Because it allowed more and more communication between employees and different departments, all of which surely aided the business as a whole!

Now though, we have started to see the reality of the open office. Whilst it can be great if used correctly, it can have a detrimental effect on the concentration and productivity of staff as anyone can become distracted thanks to very small things, even a conversation between two completely different employees.
In 2019 and beyond, we will see more and more partitions being built across the UK to ensure that departments are separated so they can get on with what they have to do during the day, without being distracted as much.

More Relaxation Areas

Can you think back to the days where you would come into work, sit down at your desk and not move until lunch? I can, because it was only a week ago. Whilst the open office and other office design philosophies have been great to allow a little more collaboration between different employees, it still hasn’t solved the problem that people are still spending too much of their time sat down at their desk. The standing desk craze has been and gone and people are now trying to find even more ways to get up and about.

One of the easiest ways business owners can encourage their staff to move around a little during the day is by incorporating more relaxation areas into the office. Why not try creating a canteen for your staff? Or by allowing them to work in a more comfortable environment in the break room? Not only will this allow employees to really sit down and get to work when they need to, but it also gives them an excuse to move around for 5 minutes and get the blood flowing again.

In Conclusion

So there we have it, three things that we are going to see more and more during 2019 and beyond. More and more business owners will be looking to reduce the amount of wasted space in their offices with the use of hot desks, and they will also be looking to separate the office a little more to ensure that their staff are not being constantly distracted. Not only that, but more and more employers will be looking to ensure their staff can relax a little more, rather than being sat down at their desk constantly.