Banner Blog

Homeworking can be lonely, and not everyone has the environment at home to work comfortably; but over the pandemic our eyes were opened to the benefits of longer lie-ins, no commute, working in comfy clothes in our own personal environment, and making tea in our own kitchen with our own milk.

Obviously, it’s not possible to realise all these benefits at the office, unless you want an extremely casual culture, but one thing that can be replicated quite easily is the feeling of relaxed safety and comfort. And there’s good reason to implement these smarter working practices, too.  

If you’ve adopted some form of hybrid working since returning to the office, you might be tempted to downsize to reduce your overheads. But if downsizing results in employees not having enough personal space to encourage productivity and creativity, you’re doing them and your business a disservice. You’ll negatively affect productivity, you’ll find it harder to recruit when prospective new employees see the working environment and, critically, you’ll make people miss the glory days of working from home permanently, and make coming into the office a chore and something that employees begrudge having to do. Resulting in an all round negative impact on employee well-being. 

Instead, there are a lot of benefits to be gained by using that extra space to upgrade your breakout areas. Providing a private, soft-furnished spot where your colleagues can go to concentrate in peace. Alternatively, larger, comfortable, collaborative spaces will bring that sense of relaxation you get at home into the office. It also provides employees with an opportunity to step away from their desks or usual workspace, which often helps to refresh and re-focus the mind.

 If space is still at a premium, isolation booths are a simple way to create private areas, and it’s so easy to underestimate the impact a comfortable sofa and some plants can have on the mental attitude of your team (fake plants may have to do the trick though, unless you’ve got some kind volunteers to help keep them alive!).

Breakout spaces may not feel like a revolutionary idea, and you may relate to the experience of having had breakout and collaborative areas before the pandemic, but not using them to their full potential. If you’re sold on the idea of investing in them more, you also need to make sure that the team are making the most of them.

The culture of a business is set by the senior leadership team, so if you want people to reap the benefits of a change of location or a private nook, you need to be using them yourself, and regularly. 

So, get in the office and get comfy!

  Banner Interiors

We are committed to creating environments that meet the demands and enhance the performance of modern workplaces by promoting productivity, encouraging creativity, and improving overall well-being.

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