Since the pandemic, one of the biggest shifts in our attitude is the purpose of the office. We all quickly jumped into creating a ‘community hub’ style of office to tempt people back to face to face working. However, the latest trends show that the best offices are well designed to facilitate different styles of working.
It won’t come as a surprise that many businesses are investing in creating a destination space to lure the best talent. As the office isn't one size fits all, we’re having to get creative to cater to the different needs of our teams. Our environments are becoming more fluid inorder to adapt to our agile ways of working. So our perception of a collaborative space needs to break away from the defined place of the board room, and become more flexible too.
Here are our top tips on creating a collaborative space in your workplace…
Multi-functional spaces
Think of areas in your workplace that can be used in a fluid way, especially if they aren’t being used a lot of the time. These are often places like formal meeting or board rooms, directors offices and kitchen / break spaces.
Creating a multi-functional kitchen area that could also double as a space for informal project catch ups would ensure you get more out of the space you’re paying for. While taking away a coveted office from an employee may require a shift in perception, the hot desk office booth approach could free up some much needed space and promote flexibility. Or if you have a large reception area, you could use meeting pods to get rid of the need for space consuming meeting rooms.
Outdoor areas
Often one of the most overlooked spaces is our use of outdoor areas. Not every workplace is lucky enough to have an outdoor area, but if you do then purchasing some furniture and creating a relaxing environment is a great idea!
Terrace style seating arrangements could be a solution for head down work for those who like to work in nature and larger tables means you can take meetings outside too.
Soft seating
Injecting some soft furnishings into your work place will help to create space for informal conversations. There’s a range of colourful and comfy soft seating pods that are sound dampening so you can place them in an open plan office for collaborative spaces. It’s also a great addition for informal break out spaces and wind down areas.
Meeting pods
Less imposing than a formal boardroom and more flexible than traditional meeting spaces, meeting pods are a great addition to the modern office space. Coming in a range of designs and sizes, a meeting pod can also be soundproof so that you can still have those private conversations.
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