the hybrid office - smart lockers
Smart Lockers for the Hybrid Office are in integral component to support your return to office strategies. Flexibility and the ability to pivot based on learnings is key.
The future of the workplace in 2022
2020 was the year of global lockdowns, remote work, and Zoom meetings. Then came the Great Resignation of 2021, where millions quit their jobs in droves and moved out of major cities. So does this leave the workplace in 2022?
For companies across the world, the idea of returning to the office is still a complicated one, tied to pandemic waves and the future of work itself. In the past two years, we’ve had to rethink every aspect of the work environment from the ground up.
Ongoing talent shortages also mean that workers have more say in the future of the workplace than ever before. A 2021 Microsoft study found that over 70% want flexible work options. Meanwhile, 67% of industry leaders are considering redesigning offices to meet new needs.
Many questions remain unanswered, but one thing’s for sure: the workplaces we’ve been used to are going to look very different moving forward.
Do we even need offices?
With more workers permanently at home or on the move, it’s no surprise that many companies are side-eyeing overhead costs like office space. The consensus so far? They could probably do with less, and many already have.
According to recent commercial real estate market reports, office space is shrinking. Across the US, office space vacancies have hit an all-time high of more than 15%. New York City alone saw vacancies increase by 11%. In the UK, office space shrank by over 18 million square feet during the first pandemic year.
Some of this can probably be chalked up to ‘return to office’ delays like the Delta and Omicron variant waves. But it’s also an indication that the world has settled into a new type of work.
A new hybrid workforce
Millions of remote employees have become used to integrating life and work. Some enjoy the freedom of working from home while others enjoy the flexibility of moving between workspaces.
The one thing they have in common, though, is that they use office space less.
Enter hybrid work, the work model of the future.
Hybrid work lives between the traditional 9-5 office and fully-remote freelancing, allowing employees flexibility in their work location and schedules.
This work style became popular in the early days of the pandemic. In the summer of 2020, as much as 86% of decision-makers expected employees to work at home from one to four days a week, according to a survey by Colliers International. A 2021 study by Google Workspace and Economist Impact told a similar story: over 75% of respondents said hybrid work models will become standard practice in their organizations.
But it’s an easier change to promise than make. In 2020, companies worldwide scrambled to create temporary remote work arrangements. This year, they face the challenge of making this shift sustainable long-term.
Rethinking the purpose of the workplace
According to Harvard Business Review, there are two main reasons for keeping employees in offices every workday: supervision and interaction. Physical spaces and cubicles have made it easier for managers to keep an eye on things. They’ve also allowed workers to gather and connect in shared spaces.
So, what exactly is the purpose of today’s office if people don’t have to be there all the time? How can companies reimagine a collaborative workplace for distributed teams?
It starts with prioritizing the human work experience.
Experts believe that going forward we’ll see an ecosystem of collaborative spaces emerging to boost employee engagement, well-being, and work flexibility. This could look like a network of main offices, homes, and even libraries and cafes, a “hub and spoke” model that could extend from the city to the suburbs or even more remote areas.
Rather than simply being a place to punch the clock, workers would have a variety of work locations to choose from that cater to different needs and work preferences.
Soft architecture and flexible space
Offices in 2022 won’t just have a new purpose, they’ll also have a whole new take on architecture and workplace design. Elements of the offices themselves, from design to sustainable materials and built-in technologies, can add to the collaborative effect.
Agile workspaces that fulfill multiple functions, like individual, group, formal, and casual get-togethers, are key. Using soft architecture to make spaces more welcome, like replacing rows of desks with smaller meeting nooks and comfortable furniture, encourages intimate gatherings. Smart lockers can be designed to function as wall partitions and colorful conversation pieces, making it easier to adapt rooms to different group sizes and events.
Another growing solution called “hotelization,” involves renovating workspaces into a type of coworking space.
Offices become more laid-back areas with soft furnishings, coffee stations, and smart lockers to store personal items. Spread out enough, employees can work and distance themselves safely, a concept that Starbucks has recently explored with its own office reinvention.
Smart tech over assigned seating
Gone are the days of dedicated desks and cubicles, which limit space usage and keep offices inflexible. As workspaces become more inclusive and multi-purpose, companies will need to evaluate their hybrid work assignment processes.
Hot-desking, which allows you to book spaces or desks on an ad hoc basis, is a system that’s already become popular at coworking spaces. It can fill the double function of maximizing space efficiency and managing traffic flow, helping companies combat issues like mid-week crowding.
Attaching desk booking to smart technology can also complement a more data-driven approach to hybrid work.
Intelligent security and temperature control systems generate data about safety measures, ease of access, and preferred work environments. And by making smart lockers reservable, companies could add the convenience of booking storage alongside desks and gain valuable insights into usage, capacity, employee-to-locker ratio, and more.
Planning for the office of the future
2022 may finally mark a complete return to the office, even as we acknowledge that the world of work has changed for good. A lot may have happened in the past two years, but the new ebb and flow of flexible work is here to stay.
By designing work environments with employees’ needs in mind, companies can better retain talent and create a seamless human experience. This year, we hope to see even more begin building more sustainable practices for a post-pandemic working world.
