How To Choose Which Office Design Trends To Follow

Office design trends can significantly impact both employees and the company as a whole. With trends ranging from flexible desks to green spaces, the way people work continues to evolve. Facility managers (FMs) can use office design to reinforce corporate values, promote collaboration, and encourage productivity. It is important to consider your office’s culture before redesigning the space. Here are some key considerations for deciding which trends to follow:

Assess Each Team’s Specific Needs

The workplace should foster productivity. Managers need to understand how design and layout changes will affect team output. For example, adding more public work areas may benefit sales teams who need to brainstorm, but could distract engineering teams who require quiet spaces. Before committing to a design change, facility managers should use a space management tool to create a floor plan of the current layout.

Visualizing how an office change may affect your teams can help you make design decisions with more confidence and clarity.

When assessing potential impacts, involve your employees. A study by Gensler found that nine out of ten respondents said workplace design affects their productivity, and many believed a better-designed environment would allow them to increase their work output by 21%. Understanding what this means for different departments is a great starting point before adopting new design trends.

Choose Designs That Reflect Your Culture

Office culture can be reinforced by its design. Facility managers should ensure that company values are reflected in design changes. For example, companies valuing strict hierarchies or privacy might prefer more closed offices, while those valuing accessibility might implement strong wayfinding principles.

Before implementing new designs, consider how changes will affect how employees and clients perceive the company. For instance, IDEO, a global design company that prioritizes creativity, reflects this in their San Francisco office with colorful art supplies, murals, and collaborative art pieces. This keeps creativity front-of-mind for both clients and employees.

When choosing your own office design, ask: does this trend align with our company’s core values? An open-plan office may look appealing, but if your industry values privacy and efficiency, a design with separate workstations may be more appropriate. If a trend doesn’t encourage productivity for your employees, it may not be worth implementing.

Anticipate Future Trends and Technologies

When considering a design change, companies should anticipate future needs. Design trends often accompany industry changes and new developments in work culture. Look for trends that complement each other to create a streamlined and cohesive office space.

A strong example is the culture of flex work. Companies with flexible work policies should consider hot-desking systems and cloud technologies to create a polished experience for their teams. If planning to hire more flex or remote workers, design should anticipate their needs.

Facility managers should also examine how connected technologies might change the workplace in the coming years.

For example, as the Internet of Things changes how employees interact with each other and with office objects, companies may need to rearrange workspaces to incorporate new technologies. Consider whether you’ll need more screens in conference rooms for video conferencing, or if visitors will interact with AI attendants instead of a front desk. New innovations are rapidly changing the workplace, so your design should allow for future changes.

Office design is a complex process that requires considering many technical and social factors. Facility managers must filter out impractical trends and focus on those that help the company succeed. By assessing team needs, company values, and future technologies, FMs can ensure office designs align with company goals and improve corporate culture overall.