Office Space Interior Design Ideas for the Future of Work

Many companies are bringing their employees back to the office. In fact, in a recent survey of more than 350 business leaders, 70 percent said they plan to have employees back in the office by the fall of 2021.

This makes sense. Top workers, producers and hustlers can't work from home - they need daily interaction, sales and networking within a social environment. Businesses are heavily reliant on relationships and word of mouth advertising. They are reimagining how the office can look and function in the post-pandemic era. What will these look like? There is no one-size-fits-all approach for the way we work, but there are a lot of possibilities.

That said, budgets are limited. Results can only be achieved by how much a company can assign to renovations, modifications, new furniture solutions. So, owners and office managers thinking about office space interior design ideas to improve the look and feel of their workplaces? But there’s a need for speed, to make these projects really happen.

We’re already working with many companies to help them with exactly these kinds of back-to-the-office interior design challenges. Perhaps you already checked out how 34F Design is leading workplace transition into a thoughtful, solid, post-COVID reality.

Need some practical advice for your own post-COVID workplace? Here are some office space interior design ideas that can help businesses today.

The hybrid office model and the comeback of the cubicle

Some businesses will adopt a hybrid model this fall. Employees will still be able to work from home, though the majority of workdays will be spent in the office.

Does the new era of work mean leaving the desks we all know and love behind? It doesn’t have to. A lot of hybrid offices will have people working from home 1 or 2 days a week, with 3 to 4 days in the office. In this case, each employee still has an assigned desk.

The current era of heightened health measures is giving new weight to employees’ desires for a workspace that is quiet, private, and truly their own. Enter the 6x6 cubicle.

Pretty much all modern offices want to avoid the gray, felt-covered half-walls of the 80s and 90s. There’s a reason some interior design ideas never make a comeback.

But when designed for the modern workforce, cubicles can help offices stay just as collaborative and productive as an open concept floor plan. The key to this is having low partitions. These give each employee a dedicated space while keeping the floor open enough for dialogue to flow.

In this example, the blue colour blocks animate this space, but they appear in small doses, with crisp white furnishings and plenty of neutral accents to please the eye.

Adding a dash of colour, wherever possible, also gives the standard cubicle some much-needed flavour. This is particularly true when the colours are contained to certain areas and stand in contrast to a more muted canvas. A bit of greenery from plants (natural or plastic) can help liven up the area.

Embracing office space interior design ideas for hybrid workforces and hotdesks

Another model we’re seeing is the continuation of open and flexible floor plans and liberal use of hotdesks. This was a popular trend pre-pandemic, and for many companies, the enthusiasm for this configuration has endured. It’s for companies that might see employees working from home 2 to 3 days, with the remainder of the week in the office.

Flexibility is the name of the game for following COVID-19, especially for employees who split their time evenly between working from home and the office. Achieving flexibility in designing your office means few partitions to open up the room and sprawling rows of clutter-free desks that maximize floor area.

Knowledge circulates more freely in these open spaces, and employees have more autonomy and mobility in how they work. Using natural elements, such as rustic wood beams or an earthy stone accent wall, can increase an individual’s connectivity to the natural environment and promote mental wellness in a potentially fast-paced office.

Beyond desk configurations, lighting can go a long way in setting the tone and scale of a space. Exposure to natural light, in particular, can lead to higher-quality sleep and increased productivity. But when natural light is not abundant, the effect can be replicated with diffusers and artificial lighting.

Demand is also high for flex zones that cater to employees’ daily movements and workflow, particularly for companies that are adopting a hub-and-spoke model. Flex zones can take many forms; a set of deep, plush couches, private phone booths, community tables, and cafe-style seating areas for smaller meetings.

Multipurpose spaces, by nature, can be used for all kinds of work - from break-out meetings to satellite workstations. These places give employees the freedom to work in a way that suits their needs, whether it’s engaging in dialogue, unwinding, or working in quiet contemplation.

Revamping the office space with a back-to-normal approach

For some companies, the look and feel of their office space won’t be all that different from what they had before the pandemic. It’s about getting back to normal. In this case, employees will work full time at their assigned desks. Really, what you’re looking for is a minor refresh within the office.

There might be some allowance for particular employees to work from home, but the priority is really about improving productivity.

That said, one area you might want to focus on is decreasing storage space. Changes in technology have literally opened up a lot of space in the office over the past year or two. There’s less of a need for shared office amenities like bulky copy machines, printers, and filing cabinets. A lot of offices are just completing a long-term trend to going paperless.

As the way we work changes, so will the space we inhabit to do that work. Some executive offices are going to more of an open concept and windows and glass doors. Transparency is the key. Some old-school executive hideaways are now much more integrated into the rest of the office, where social bonds are formed and culture is created.

Interior design ideas for the modern office are a work in progress

As we return to our workplaces, we have the opportunity to really rethink what an office is meant to be. We’re going to see a lot of experimentation around what works best to help workers maximize their productivity and collaboration.

Ultimately, the company’s core values and strategic goals will lead how they implement the ideal workplace setting going forward.

Need help with interior design ideas for your company? We’re helping many firms adapt to the new hybrid office environment. Contact 34F Design today