Forward-Thinking Furniture: Office Interventions Without the Hassle (and Price Tag) of Construction

As organizations navigate the fits and starts of workplace re-entry in 2022, many executives recognize that pre-pandemic workplaces are not ideal for current workstyles and habits. As such, companies are looking to make strategic interventions to their space to maximize utilization and provide employees with the best user experience. Creative furniture solutions are a non-disruptive, cost-efficient method to transform your space and optimize the employee experience. This can also be a way to pilot new space types and layouts before undergoing a full construction project.

Furniture interventions can solve for many types of space concerns, though the specifics tend to vary based on industries and employee demographics. From a Project Manager in tenant construction, here are a handful of ideas for utilizing furniture to re-imagine your workplace.

From Private to Multi-Use Offices

With hybrid and remote schedules dominating the professional services industries, many private offices are woefully under-utilized. By installing sit-to-stand collaboration tables and additional chairs, these offices can quickly be transformed into collaboration spaces for small groups looking for a touchdown space or a room to join a virtual meeting. For the days when private use is more suitable, lower the table to serve as an individual workstation.

Enhanced Café Seating

Café spaces typically only see employees for one hour per day. To get more value out of this area, introduce new seating and surfaces that will encourage use beyond the lunchtime window. Providing tables of varying heights is an easy way to inject a sense of dynamism and optionality – high-top tables are great for collaboration, while low tables work for group lunches or working meetings.

*Pro Tip: Be sure to include power sources in your tables for a seamless work experience!

Privacy at a Premium

With so many workers seeking quiet areas to join a phone or video call, phone booths are an easy solution to provide private spaces without knocking down walls. While they are generally not the least expensive option, phone booths are a ready response to the significant uptick in virtual meetings. The single-seat phone booth is most common, but there are options available that seat up to four.

Looking into Seat Leverage

Hybrid work and flexible schedules often results in vacant workstations throughout the week. Without a need for 1:1 work spaces, organizations can implement a hoteling system to reduce the number of individual workstations and ultimately free up space for different types of furniture – lounge space, high-top tables, phone booths, etc.

*Note: Many clients are currently using outdated workstations that take up a lot of space. Scaling down to a small desk size can maximize your footprint and make for a more efficient use of space.

These are just a handful of ideas to improve your space and optimize the user experience. The key to these interventions is communication: be sure to understand utilization figures, projections, and worker profiles and workstyles so that your solutions are targeted and tailored. If you’re not sure where to begin or if you need support along the way, reach out to Cresa’s team of experts for an in-depth analysis of your team and needs.