The Future of the Office

A Business Owners Guide for Office Design Strategies

The COVID-19 Pandemic left rippling effects worldwide, affecting all aspects of how we live. In this new world, we are facing unique new challenges and opportunities, including what the future of the office and work looks like. 

As the world shut down in 2020, employees and employers were left with no other option than to embrace remote work. Now, as the world continues to reopen, companies are facing difficult decisions on the future of their offices, from office design to HR policies. 

Do companies embrace work from home with the potential of unintended consequences to their culture and productivity? Do companies create hybrid work policies with the possibility of incurring high overhead costs for office spaces they may or may not need on any given day? Or, do companies mandate employees to return to the office at the risk of losing talent in a world where more job seekers value flexibility and work-life balance?

The future of work and office design is uncertain. In this paper, Michael Brush explores three strategies to try and answer these questions:

1. Wait and See – Some companies may or may not have this luxury, but it is human nature to wait and make decisions for their office design when the timing is right.
2. Reduce Square Footage– Dependent on adopted policies and lease terms, companies may consider moving to smaller spaces, adopting different desk strategies, or thinking about co-working space. 
3. Re-Define the Workplace – This involves thinking about the future of work to create a dynamic, employee-focused office that supports employee-desired flexibility. 

Michael Brush dives deeper into these three strategies in “The Future of the Office: A Business Owners Guide to Office Design Strategies”:

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About the Author:

Michael Brush, Partner and Corporate Designer