Tips for Redesigning the Office
When the desire among employees for a homeoffice becomes strong, the first question that is addressed is the following: How can we make it possible for everyone to work from home just as they do in the office? And what foundations must be laid by the company, or what equipment should be made available to employees?
It is only in the second step that the full extent of the impact that flexible working has on office space becomes apparent. Often, this realization only occurs when the employees have long since stopped working in the office every day and the office remains largely empty. The conventional model, according to which everyone is assigned a specific workstation, is thus rendered useless – even inefficient, to the point of being largely superfluous.
So the workspace needs to be redesigned! But how do the workplaces in the office have to be redesigned at best in order to meet the new requirements resulting from the hybrid work model? To ensure that you succeed in the long term, it is best to ask yourself the following questions:
What do your employees want?
Giving employees a greater say in the matter is of immense benefit on numerous levels. This is also true when it comes to deciding how work should be done. As we’ve outlined in another article, it’s helpful for space optimization and workspace management to take into account the wishes and preferences of employees.
How busy is it in the office? Does it perhaps hold potential?
If the office is not fully occupied, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather, you should see the potential in it to be able to manage your space more efficiently. After all, thanks to the people in the home office, the required office space is reduced. If you now restructure the office in a clever way by having only shared desks from now on, some space will be freed up.
Ultimately, the change presents a lucrative opportunity to save money. After all, more space means that you can either downsize your premises or, alternatively, rent out the space.
Plus, you now have more leeway to experiment with the space. Food for thought: for example, what do you think about more meeting rooms or private work cubicles and breakout zones?
How can you make sure everyone:r finds a workspace?
The downside of the principle of a shared workspace is that there will most likely be fewer workstations than there are employee:ers. This makes it all the more important to introduce a Booking Assistant that provides a transparent overview of the available workspace. At the same time, employees can independently book rooms, desks and so on.
The advantage: The allocation of space is simple, fair and stress-free! Employees search for the desired workspace, meeting room or quiet zone, check availability and book the space in a desired period – done.
How can you make your workspace dynamically adaptable?
Just because you’ve established a perfectly functioning model today doesn’t mean it will work just as well tomorrow. The way people work will continue to change in the future. This means that in a few years, a flexible, bookable workplace may not even meet the needs of the workforce. That’s why it’s important that when you’re optimizing and redesigning your space now, you make sure that the workspace can be easily adapted.
This is where a Workspace Management Software comes into play. This continuously analyzes usage data and shows you the utilization as well as the demand. This is a huge relief for your workspace management, because based on this information, you can make informed decisions regarding the redesign of workspaces at any time to meet new requirements. In addition, changes to the planning design can be made and simulated.
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