Oh the times, they are indeed a-changin’, and the cubicle walls in today’s workplace are coming down (with the option of popping right back up, if needed). Employers and employees alike are enjoying the trends.
“In the past, all you needed to do to lure top talent to a company was to offer a good salary, a decent benefits package, and the promise of a great future,” says Susan Brandt, business development manager at Working Spaces Inc., a commercial furniture company. “Times have changed, and if you want to attract the best and brightest, you need to add one more thing to your recruiting list: a more exciting work environment.”
Options, Options, Options
Brandt works routinely with businesses who want to update their office spaces to improve their employees’ experience. She says what’s currently hot is mobility, flexibility, and collaboration areas.
“Today’s employees rank mobility as more important than an assigned space or even a corner office,” Brandt says. “Instead of being chained to their workspace eight hours a day, they want the freedom to choose where they will be working at any given time on any given day.”
As a result, more and more office buildings are renovating to include spaces with varying levels of privacy: collaboration areas, multi-purpose rooms, smaller “huddle rooms” or conference rooms, and semi-private areas for individual use.
“Employees want options,” Brandt says. “They want distraction-free work areas when they need quiet, but they also want collaborative areas where they can meet as a group.”
Frank Sovich, owner and dealer principal at Marathon Building Environments, refers to part of this trend as “hoteling” or creating “touchdown spaces.” These offices cater to employees who don’t work from a “home base,” so to speak — they may have the option of utilizing a common space for meetings or laptop work, and they may include a locker for their employees’ belongings.
Marathon utilized touchdown design in part of their work with the Missouri Innovation Center, a 3,000-square-foot building for startups. The MIC features a combination of private offices and open, collaborative workspaces.
“In these open, collaborative spaces, there’s more of a casual and residential feeling,” Sovich says. He notes that such a space may include more couches and soft seating than a private workspace typically would.