Hybrid work: the office as a meeting place

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The coronavirus introduced the world to working from home. Many employers and employees have experienced the advantages and disadvantages and are slowly moving towards a combination of home and office working, in other words: a hybrid working method. This changes the function of the office from a workplace to a meeting place. In this blog you can read why and how you can organise your office for an optimal result.

Working from home: advantages and disadvantages

Although working from home took some getting used to at the beginning of the corona crisis, more and more employees are experiencing the benefits of working from home. In addition to saving on time spent commuting and being able to organize their working schedule the way they want – starting early to pick up the children from school themselves – they also experience higher productivity when working from home. Despite these advantages, one major disadvantage remains: working from home is something you do alone.

Working from home and from the office is the future

Human beings are social beings, and the main reason why the majority of employees want to return to the office is the social aspect. Office users miss being together: seeing and talking to colleagues and working together on certain tasks. But change of scenery also plays an important role: when working at home, one is constantly in the same environment, both business-wise and private. The combination of home and office, hybrid working, is the future.

The office becomes a place where colleagues come together

The office will no longer function purely as a workplace. It will become a place where colleagues can come together, collaborate, meet and interact, and will have to be equipped accordingly. To facilitate the various aspects of hybrid working, in addition to fixed desks for employees working in the office that day, you also need open spaces to stimulate social contact, brainstorming areas and meeting rooms for collaborations and discussions, round tables and lounge areas for informal meetings or for connecting. So you need a combination of private offices, meeting rooms and open spaces with flexible workstations. This allows your employees to choose where they work on the day they are in the office and get the most out of that day. And if you really want to do it right, you should off course install a bar for the Friday afternoon drinks.

A hybrid office leads to higher productivity and lower absenteeism

No employer benefits from an employee who is not satisfied with his/her workplace or who is lonely at home, because that only leads to a loss of productivity. It is therefore worth taking a critical look at your current office layout and making any necessary changes. Because with a hybrid design, your employees can fully determine how and where they work during their day at the office, so their satisfaction, and therefore their productivity and efficiency will be higher. This will also increase the working atmosphere and strengthen the corporate culture, which in turn will result in lower absenteeism.

Optimal use of office space

A hybrid office design also offers scope for savings: it's no longer necessary to provide every employee with a desk, so you end up needing less square metres. The space that remains can be put to optimal use: An empty corner can easily be transformed with a couple of sofas and a lounge sofa into a coffee corner or a cosy spot for informal gatherings.

Work on your office space

By designing your office as a meeting place, you prepare yourself and your company for the future of hybrid work. Provide a combination of workplaces, from private offices to lounge areas, to facilitate all forms of work activities, but especially to stimulate the social aspect of the workplace. Need help? We are happy to think along with you. We can offer you one of our ready-made Tribes solutions, but we are also happy to come to your location to think along with you!

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