The workplace has gone through a lot in the last 24 months. Many employees have had to work remotely due to the pandemic, which has caused a major shift in our thinking about and expectations of the workplace.
Many companies have set dates to reopen their workplaces, only to find their plans thwarted by the latest variant or wave. Owl Labs research shows that 73% of US full-time workers returned to work one or more days per semaine in 2021. However, many businesses have had difficulty moving their return-to–work dates or changing their plans to accommodate changing circumstances. DocuSign had set January 10, 2022 as the date it would return 7,000 global employees to work, but the outbreak continued to evolve and they delayed this date yet again. Gartner’s August 2021 survey found that 66% of organizations had to postpone their return-to office plans. Some even suggested that they might not be able to get everyone back in the office before 2023.
Many workplace strategists are having to reconsider how the space they have in mind for the future. Many are changing their entire footprint and including flexible space in their plans to better serve the varied needs of their employees. The workplace is changing in every way. More organizations are realizing that no one size fits all, and that traditional offices must change to be responsive to changing worlds. This means that flexibility is a vital part of office plans.
How can business leaders create a purpose-driven work environment without spending time or resources on unutilized space? Signature Workspace is a powerful tool that allows you to use three tools at once or in combination to create the workplace that your organization needs.
Rethink Your Office Layout
Planning for office space can be costly. The process can also take a long time, sometimes taking several days or even weeks. This can make it difficult to make a decision. Signature Workspace has launched a new platform to help businesses make better decisions. Signature Workspace Space360 powered By FastOffice(r), is a platform that allows budgeting and 3D visualization.
Signature Workspace can help you get the answers that you need in minutes, not days or weeks. Signature Workspace Space360 allows you to collaborate with our workplace design team in live-time to see different layouts and view them all. You can also share 3D plans with the design team to better visualize how each piece will function together.
Signature Workspace’s designers will work with you to create the perfect environment for your company. Signature Workspace Space360’s experts will assist you with three important questions.
- Are we a good fit? You can use Signature Workspace Space360 for different layouts and scenarios to help you create an environment that is productive, comfortable, and aligned to your goals.
- How could this space look? You can control your design and furniture plans. This will allow you to see multiple views including angled and aerial views and virtual walk-throughs.
- How much will it cost? Signature Workspace Space360 can calculate the total cost for occupancy per month by using variables such as operating expenses, lease rates and furnishings.
Signature Workspace Space360 uses our furniture rental products to show you what your space might look like. Signature Workspace works together to provide highly flexible workplace solutions to companies that design their workplaces and businesses who lease or own those spaces. Space360 is also available to CRE teams to help create the best planning possible for their tenants. This can not only help to attract tenants, but also allow them to better support tenants’ changing needs.
Remain Permanently Flexible: Signature Workspace
It is undeniable that being together has a great value. Face-to-face communication is the best. Face-to-face interaction is a great way to foster collaboration, innovation, as well as build a strong company culture. It doesn’t matter if the organization is primarily remote or adopts hybrid policies, there will always need to be some physical workplace in order for people to experience an immersive experience. Face-to-face interactions in which people share the same space can create and sustain focus and encourage experimentation. They also facilitate interpersonal bonding that is impossible to achieve with screen time.
Experts predict that workplaces will become more flexible. Employees will be able to choose where and when they work and which office configurations are best for the work required. Google told the Washington Post that while the future of work may be more flexible, collaboration and building community will still be a key part of Google.
Flexibility may be the greatest benefit for the workplace in the future. It must be clear why people choose to work in an office space. Being together is beneficial. Remote work is possible, but in-person whiteboarding sessions cannot be replaced by technology. The workplace will become more agile.
Flexibility to adapt to these types of agility is key to keeping the office relevant. It will also help keep employees aligned with corporate identity. It is essential to experiment with space and measure configurations for use in order to determine what works best for each workforce.
It doesn’t matter if your company is a large tech company or a small start-up, it’s crucial to remain agile and adaptable in the face of disruption and changing business requirements. This is a key way to ensure that the office remains relevant into the future.
To move forward, you must continue to look for solution-based opportunities. FaaS allows businesses the ability to quickly pivot and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. We also work closely with facility managers to provide flexible office solutions. Signature Workspace and Signature Workspace teamed up recently to gain valuable insights into current trends. They found that most companies approach the return to work in a hybrid strategy with space and furniture requirements dominating.
Staying ahead of the Future: Signature Workspace Sensor Technology, Data
Most companies will experiment with their space in the coming months and years, testing new configurations and iterations in order to stay flexible. Flexibility is not just a buzzword for many. It may even be one of the most important workplace benefits in the future. The question is: How do you create the flexibility that you want in the space you already have?
Businesses are now able to answer the questions with workplace utilization sensor technology and data from Signature Workspace. They also have the data they need in order to provide the flexibility necessary for the future of their workplace.
Signature Workspace’s occupancy study platform can be reconfigured and redeployed in a matter of minutes. The sensors gather motion event data, which is sent via cellular signature to an onsite gateway to a cloud hub. Clients are provided with a web dashboard that allows them to access their data. They can then use this dashboard to create reports for many purposes, such as:
- Conducting occupancy studies
- Calculating office occupancy rates
- Analyzing usage based on dwell times
What does the Future Hold?
Leaders are beginning to think about the future of the workplace as they look to the future. However, there is no clear answer to the question. Although it is frustrating to see that little has changed in the past 22 months regarding how to bring employees back into the office, there are some signs of improvement. There is no one right way to do things. We are encouraged to try, measure, modify and then repeat the process with the office. Signature Workspace is proud that we can support our clients in navigating and adapting to uncertainty through these powerful workplace solutions. We can provide a little more certainty when we combine our two innovative software products and physical furnishings.
This post was written by Tara Kintz. Tara is a director at Signature Workspace. Signature Workspace, owned and operated by Cantor Fund Management, offers services and amenities such as private offices, flex space, co-working space, virtual offices, meeting/conference rooms, and more.