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Since the COVID-19 lockdowns sent many office workers home, employers have struggled trying to bring their employees back to the office. There is an undeniable energy that comes from multiple people in one place, working together, collaborating, huddling in groups to brainstorm and achieve a common goal.
Given the choice of working from home or sitting in an office chair at a desk in a huge room full of cubicles, though, who wouldn’t choose the comfort of their living rooms or home offices? After all, video conferencing, email and cellphones provide easy ways to connect and collaborate.
That’s why many companies have begun to offer hybrid schedules and flexible workspaces. Those concepts were just beginning to take hold before the pandemic and have now become deciding factors for employees’ return to the office, as well as a leverage tool in workforce recruitment, both for the prospect and the employer.
Hybrid work schedules give employees the option to work from home part of the week and in the office for the rest. There was a time when only the most progressive tech companies might consider something like this, but it quickly becoming the norm across a variety of industries.
It is a great compromise that benefits workers and employers. Employees get to spend time working at home, which gives them the comfort they desire while reducing travel costs and commute times. Employers get people back in the offices to hold meetings in person, foster collaboration, create energy and inspire productivity.
Flexible offices are the key to keeping people happy coming back to the office – and wanting to spend more time there. In fact, according to Cushman & Wakefield in partnership with WeWork, flexible office users want to be in those spaces at least half the work week and reduce their remote working arrangements. What, though, is a flexible workspace?
Remember that warehouse-like room with hundreds of cubicles we alluded to earlier? You know the one: It has a tiny break room with a fridge, a table and a couple of chairs. If you’re lucky, it has a vending machine. Bathrooms resemble the ones you find at retail stores, and executives have tiny, industrial offices on the corners. That’s not a flexible workspace; quite the opposite, really. Those boring, static, uninspiring spaces have been the status quo for decades, but are quickly going the way of the dinosaurs. And for good reason.
The best flexible workspaces foster creativity and collaboration and should be a desired destination, not a boring chore. Since the onset of the COVID pandemic in March 2020, commercial furniture manufacturers have conducted more than a dozen global studies with more than 57,000 employees and business leaders to understand the impact the pandemic has had on how and where people will work in the future.
Here are some findings:
• 87 percent of people expect to work in an office at least some of the time;
• 21 percent prefer to work in an office;
• 64 percent want hybrid collaboration spaces;
• 61 percent also want privacy;
• 57 percent want reservable workspaces, not just the promise of a desk in a building, and
• 52 percent want flexible furniture.
Workers want workspaces that are worth the commute and make them want to get up and go to an office. They need flexible workspaces that are desirable destinations, not just a desk to sit at and an outlet to charge a phone.
That’s where Pradere Designer Workspaces comes in. We curate designs, furnishings and accessories that provide workspaces to inspire creativity and make employees want to be there. We use lounge seating to evoke feelings of home. Pods for two to four people provide areas for collaboration, private conversations, video conferencing and more. Open floor plans with easily adaptable furniture allow for creative configurations that can change as the needs of the workers and the company change.
Pradere is a second-generation, Latin family-owned business dedicated to meeting the needs of businesses who seek longevity and adaptability in their workspace. The most modern, creative, exciting workspaces will make employees feel at home and will be worth the commute. We are creating those spaces by helping people work differently.
Michelle Pradere Noriega is the vice president of sales of Pradere Designer Workspaces and has led the company’s business development efforts for the past 12 years. She also serves as an Executive Board member of the Latin Builders Association, where she chairs the “Women of the LBA” and Philanthropy committees.
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