Post-Covid calls for fluid spaces & flexible furniture

What does the workplace look like post-Covid?

In a world beyond social distancing and the current threat of a second wave of infection?

This is what we explored with a group of esteemed interior designers and commercial office specifiers against the backdrop of a global survey of 34,000 office workers and employers by workplace consultants, WKSpace.

The research highlighted that employees are looking for more flexible working hours – and more freedom to choose where to work.

In fact, employers believe that 69% of employees will split their time between the home and the office post Covid-19, while employees think that on any given day, only 45% of staff will be ‘at work’.

So, what does this mean for how we design spaces and furniture going forward?

The group of specifiers were excited about the challenge ahead and saw the current turbulence as an opportunity to reboot the office design. 

There was great consensus around the need to change how we think about the office and the purpose it serves; a place for coming together ‘being a team’, a space for collaboration and creativity.

There was a lot of discussion around how to serve the different wants and needs of employers and employees, with five themes emerging from the conversation:

Five big themes

  1. The death of the desk and the rise of the library
  2. Mind the generation gap – not everyone is happy to work ‘anywhere’
  3. Different modes & moods – the office needs to stimulate, invigorate and soothe 
  4. Multi-functional spaces for better wellbeing
  5. Define the space; getting and owning the right brief

To delve deeper and read the full report, click here.

Instagram