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Office Design
No more shoulder-pads
Jonathan Hindle, Group Managing Director of KI EMEA, highlights the
influence well-being is having on office design
After years of taking a back seat in favour of
cost savings, companies are now investing
in creative office planning with a focus
on worker well-being, recognising it as an
effective business improvement tool.
Seemingly triggered by the uber-trendy
offices of the tech and media sectors, everyone
from blue chips to government agencies are
incorporating well-being into their workplace
strategies. However, failure to properly
understand well-being leads many companies
to pursue cringe-worthy ‘coolness’, rather than
a genuine attempt at creating happy, healthy
and productive workplaces. Those who do
address well-being adequately and appropriately
have been able to combat absenteeism and
staff attrition, boost productivity and improve
employer branding – vital in the ongoing ‘war
for talent.’
Organisations must remember what’s at
the core of the well-being agenda: the need to
‘humanise’ the work environment. Furniture
must be selected to create a diverse landscape,
one which offers a variety of work settings so
that people can choose the environment that
best fits the task at hand and their preferred
way of undertaking it.Whether driven by
aesthetics or functionality, this furniture
selection can have a big bearing on health and
well-being.
n
Workstations:
We are seeing our UniteSE
andWork2 desks and bench systems specified
with black legs and white surfaces to create
the illusion of a ‘floating’ worktop, an effort
to lighten the mood of a room. These systems
are also being used to provide a variety of
work settings suited to both individual and
collaborative work. Height adjustability is
increasingly sought after to meet personal
preferences, not just to accommodate
wheelchair users and taller members of staff.
n
Sit-stand:
These benches are increasingly
being interspersed with a sit-stand capability
using our ToggleSE desk andWork2 sit-
stand programme. Meeting rooms, too, are
being furnished with standing tables to
encourage quick, productive gatherings, while
simultaneously promoting good health.
n
Collaborative areas:
Our Breakout system is
being used to provide screening for third space
drop-in work areas furnished with soft seating,
creating new informal spaces for collaboration.
n
Storage:
Agile and activity-based working
and technology are coming together to
revolutionise the types of storage required in
today’s offices. Space-efficient, secure lockers
are taking the place of pedestals as the primary
form of personal storage. Storage is also being
used to divide space in open plan environments.
n
Executive suites:
Senior executives, despite
some initial resistance, are embracing flexible,
dynamic and agile working in the open office
landscape, foregoing the office furniture
equivalent of shoulder pads – the ‘80s-style
executive cellular suite.
n
Homeworking:
the provision of a suitable
chair, such as our Faveo 24/7 task seating
range, is a vital component of any working
environment, whether in an office or at home.
The trend of providing ergonomic furniture
for home working is also leading companies
to supply, where possible, sit-stand desks. For
these situations, we would recommend our
Faveo perch-stool, which is ideal for sit-stand
applications, or the Faveo 24/7 task chair.
...continued
Changing aesthetics
Changing work styles are influencing
aesthetics too, in people’s choice of
colour and in the style of chair.
“The UK is still quite conservative
when it comes to colour choice, but with
second and third space environments,
companies, and specifically designers,
are using colours in a much more playful
way to create a relaxed and creative
ambience. This is true even in companies
that have traditionally been viewed
as very conservative, such as financial
institutions and legal firms. At lot of this
is driven by tech companies like Google,
Yahoo and Amazon that have set a trend
for campus-style work environments,”
explained Josefsson.
More imaginative use of colour has
gone hand in hand with a shift away
from mesh seating materials towards
foam and fabrics that offer sound
absorbency – important in open plan
environments – and more colour choice.
While aesthetic decisions are
becoming more important as working
styles change, Josefsson stresses the
importance of not losing sight of the
most important factor: “A chair is a
business tool, and to perform at the top
of your game, you need a good tool to
work with.”
