Flexspaces can provide an opportunity to customise your environment for peak productivity and employee satisfaction. Here, we share some tips on elevating your business through experience design.
As companies and employees alike recognise the benefits of hybrid working, flexspaces have become increasingly popular among a broad range of businesses. Which is why flexibility and customisation are at the heart of good flexspaces. As well as offering shorter leases and less obligation, flexspace operators also want to empower members to shape the experience of their employees by customising their workspaces through services like VectaTravelsSpaces.com
Services like this make it easy to give flexspaces a sense of brand identity quickly and scalably. This provides a distinct advantage for companies that are striving to find the balance between driving company culture and managing a disparate workforce.
Experience design is about more than making your workspace look great, although aesthetics certainly play a part. It’s about designing an experience that will help your team feel happier, more relaxed, better able to communicate and less stressed at work.
So, what should businesses take into account when planning their workspace?
1. Designs driven by data
Creative flair certainly plays a part in informing workspace design. But experience design needs to be driven by data insights mined from the workforce. Surveys and feedback should be used to provide a guide to what your employees want and how they, and the business as a whole, will benefit from different workspace features. This, in turn, enhances the all-important sense of company culture, as people feel that their opinions matter and can influence policy.
As HubSpot’s de-facto interior designer told Human Resource Director in August 2022, ignoring opinion and returning to pre-pandemic operations is inadvisable. When rethinking the function of the workplace, where better to start than by canvassing the experiences and insights of the team that shares the space?
“The thought of going back to the office as it was pre-pandemic is very much a nonstarter… The office has always been a core part of our culture and change needs to happen in order for that to remain true. We really need to rethink our spaces and how we do that in a way that’s experimental, data-informed and tech-forward.
2. Technology can unlock new ways to collaborate
Experience design also requires the careful consideration of business tech and networking infrastructure. This not only facilitates daily operations, but also collaboration between co-workers near and far.
This will be increasingly important as the metaverse becomes a key part of the way we work. A combination of VR and teleconferencing, (66%) of business leaders see the metaverse as the next stage of hybrid working. As Regus CEO and founder Mark Dixon told HR Magazine:
“Change in the world of work is almost always driven by technology. In the 1990s, email transformed the way we did business, while during the pandemic we turned to video conferencing to enable more effective working…. Data shows that business leaders expect the metaverse to have a similarly transformative effect on hybrid working”
3. Compartmentalising space
One of the great things about flexspaces is that they allow for the compartmentalisation of different spaces. This enables businesses to distinguish between collaborative spaces like meeting rooms, booths, business lounges and break out areas, as well as quieter private spaces for working on discrete tasks individually. All of these can be customised with visual touches that help strengthen the company brand and culture.
Collaboration with parties outside of the workspace should also be considered, with layouts and networking appropriate for conference calls and video conferencing.
4. Acoustics to aid concentration and communication
Controlling the soundscape of the workspace through acoustics plays a large part in ensuring concentration. According to Dala Al-Fuwaires, founder of boutique hospitality design firm House of Form, sounds emitted within a 20-foot radius have the most impact on an employee’s concentration.
Acoustic panels and transparent walls can be a great aid to both concentration and communication while limiting distracting sounds. Plants are also a great sound insulator, which brings us to…
5. Biophilic offices create a calm environment
Biophilic offices use plants not only to create a beautiful working environment, but to improve air quality, help to reduce anxiety, improve cognitive function, and stimulate creativity.
When opening its Seattle headquarters, Amazon brought in nearly 40,000 plants and even created a treehouse. Google went one step further, creating a natural space with its own ecosystem in its New York campus.
6. Lighting and colour can impact mood and concentration
Lighting is a huge consideration for modern workspaces. Poor lighting can lead to eye strain, headaches, fatigue, exacerbated stress levels and low concentration. Natural light should be leveraged wherever possible, and LEDs should be favoured over flickering fluorescent lamps.
Likewise, colours should be used in ways that are creative yet mindful of colour theory. Blues, greens and yellows for instance can help to stimulate creativity while also creating a sense of calm.
7. Design changes can lead to behavioural changes
Experience design is all about adapting the environment to influence the user. In the case of workplace design, it’s all about leading change. A few carefully considered design changes can unlock new ways of collaborating, make meetings more engaging, and make remote collaborating far more dynamic and immersive.
They also provide an opportunity for companies to show their company ethos and values, be it through the art on the walls or subtle uses of branding. This is crucial in the age of hybrid, as flexspaces and company HQs are the spaces where organisations can show their personality and connect the workforce to their culture.
