4 ideas to make it work
Hybrid workplaces need to be fitted to new patterns. Architects and office furniture designers Jim Keane and Todd Heiser suggest the four following approaches for redesigning workplaces.
Braid the digital and physical experience
To bridge the gap between in-person and remote workers, integrate physical spaces and technology. Rather than squeezing remote meeting participants into tiny squares on a screen, get them their own mobile display. Ensure the lighting and audio arrangements are conducive to engagement between participants.
Flip enclosed and open spaces
Rethink the open plan. Meetings will increasingly take place in open spaces with moveable boundaries, whereas individual work that requires visual and acoustical privacy will be conducted in pods or quiet enclaves.
Shift from fixed to fluid
Optimize your real estate. Do so many square meters really need to be permanently assigned for meetings, or can they morph into lunch area at noon and be rented out for functions in the evening?
Balance “we” and “me” work
Collaboration requires both group time, with people coming together as a team, and individual time, for focus on ideas and assigned tasks. For people to move effortlessly from one type of work to the other, the office area must include easily accessible places with privacy.
To go further
4 Strategies for Building a Hybrid Workplace that Works
by Jim Keane and Todd Heiser, HBR July 22, 2021
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