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Co-working spaces have boomed since the pandemic and the associated normalisation of hybrid working.
These businesses offer a sensible solution that makes good economic sense to businesses that want to reduce their overheads. If your staff aren’t in the office for even 3 days a week, you can see why getting rid of the office entirely and instead renting a desk somewhere, no-strings-attached, might be tempting.
But this has created a new market, and these co-working spaces are competing. One of the benefits of this competition is new trend: the hotelification of the office.
Hybrid working is making it easier for people to take care of their health and well-being, data shows.
Despite fewer walks to and from work and lunch-time strolls, staying at home to work on a few days a week isn’t impacting our physical activity levels. Data shows that Brits are maintaining their physical activity levels since before the COVID pandemic and the advent of hybrid working.
This could be thanks to hybrid working helping us cut down on non-productive work-related activities, such as commutes, affording employees more time to indulge in their health, fitness and well-being, while some are finding it easier to exercise during work hours. This conclusion is backed up by data showing home gym equipment in particular, such as under-desk treadmills, is trending.
With rising costs hitting both small and large businesses, and the cost-of-living crisis impacting employees, everyone is looking for ways to save cash. The innovative ökoform desk, designed originally just to create a more comfortable experience for desk workers, could offer massive savings to businesses and hybrid workers alike.
Energy costs are skyrocketing, meaning businesses are having to fork out more money than ever before to maintain a suitable office environment. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that one in five businesses have reported energy prices as their main concern for February 2023, according to ONS data. With this in mind, many businesses are now looking for alternative ways to keep business costs low, without moving to a WFH model.
Introducing, the ökoform heated desk...
When we had to work from home, it was the social aspect of the office that we missed most. Now that many of us are back in the office, at least part time, what are we missing?
Some of us welcomed homeworking with open arms, others missed the office, but both sides will probably agree; the office doesn’t provide the same comfort as your own home.
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.
With continued uncertainty over trading, rapid growth in some sectors and collapses in others, workplace design has never been more important. Isabel Spence, Banner and evo Group's Marketing Director, explains the best ways to maximise space without compromising on staff well-being.
Market inconsistency has been one of the very few consistent things throughout the pandemic, and a cross-sector skills shortage has made recruitment a war for talent. Many businesses are downsizing offices and embracing hybrid or home working permanently to reduce overheads.
Other businesses are expanding as rapidly as they can, provided they can attract staff. Any way you look at it, there is a lot of movement going on.
Maximising the space you have available to you is obviously the first priority in these circumstances. In the old days ‘maximising space’ might have meant stuffing as many desks as physically possible into a single room, like sardines in a can. But we now know that this has a negative effect on productivity, employee well-being and mental health, and job satisfaction. In a post-Covid world, your office needs to help you compete for new talent, as well as compete for your existing staff who have the ease and convenience of their home offices, by offering them a comfortable, practical and productive workspace.
With more and more businesses returning to offices, it is important to keep team morale high.
The wellbeing of employees is continuing to stay at the forefront of everyone's minds, and with more companies making the switch from home working to office working, we want to help you to stay positive and well during this new change.
Here are some tips on how you can return safely:
Recently, workplaces have faced numerous challenges, including how to successfully adapt to changing circumstances and ways of working, such as finding that all important balance between home and office bases.
However, throughout this, we have continued to see an emergence of sustainable solutions as an important method of making employees feel comfortable within their workspace.
In today's society, and looking ahead to the future, environmentally responsible design represents a conscious move towards reducing our ecological footprint by saving energy and natural resources. The modern-day workspace should not only be functional, but also be able to sustain itself for years to come.