Designing the optimal office is an ongoing experiment. Private offices and cubicles of the 1980s and ’90s gave way in the early 2000s to open office layouts that removed walls and encouraged more collaboration (and fit more people in smaller spaces). And yet, while many loved the increased transparency and access to management, the open office was far from perfect.

According to the Harvard Business Review, a study of two Fortune 500 companies showed that as they transitioned to the open office concept, face-to-face interactions between employees actually dropped, as did productivity. Employees that hated the lack of privacy turned to electronic interactions and noise-canceling headphones to tune out the distractions.

Now that many companies are settling into hybrid work routines, with employees dividing their time between office and remote activity, workplace design is changing again to meet new needs. The new norm is multipurpose, transformable and adaptable for all sorts of employee needs and situations.

The timing for rethinking office design comes at the right moment. Many employees now work either partially or entirely from home; others, influenced by the emerging gig economy, drift in and out of employment as needed. “Many are giving up the traditional 9-to-5 structure entirely; 20% of Americans say they are considering a switch to full-time freelance work,” wrote Andre Lee in an Entrepreneur piece on recent Upwork research. This all has an effect on office layouts and furniture choices.

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Welcome to the Hybrid Office

Mirroring the idea of hybrid work, the hybrid office combines winning elements from both open and private workspaces. According to a recent Gensler U.S. Workplace Survey, three-fourths of respondents said they preferred an office environment with access to private space for heads-down work and handling personal matters. The report also found that “younger workers are most likely to have variable preferences and interest in a partial-day structure, in line with prior research noting that younger workers are also more interested in flexible, anywhere-work relationships in and out of the office.”

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“There’s a human and intrinsic need for us to connect,” said Neil Savet of office design specialists M Moser Associates in a recent NPR interview. “Moving forward, working from home and working in the office are both going to be part of the office construct.” He added: “I definitely think the open-plan workspace needs to be reconsidered. It's a conversation that actually started before COVID-19 — looking at how effective those spaces are for the different behaviors and needs of people in the office.”

How to Create a Hybrid Environment

If you’re thinking about updating your space, carefully consider the various tasks your employees undertake, how much collaboration is required and how important privacy is on a day-to-day basis. Key questions you might ask:

Such hybrid work environments might include connected desks, like the versatile Empower collection, or adjacent desks with wall tiles grouped as team stations, such as HON’s Workwall collection.

Private spaces take the form of pods, conference rooms and even cubicles, like the Abound collection that’s updated, versatile and transformable with interchangeable pieces.

Self-Awareness Is Key

“Today, the future of [the] workplace is purpose-driven, responding to the specific needs of a business and its employees,” writes Gensler Design Strategist Corine Ocanto in her recent article, Unlocking Workplace Purpose Starts With Self-Awareness. “The idea that one size does not fit all is more pertinent now than ever before, and the wide range of long-term business responses make it almost impossible to pick a solution off-the-shelf.”

That’s why consultation is so important. Your local HON dealer can help you determine your layout and select the best office furniture pieces for your company’s needs and budget. Whatever layout and design you settle on for your company, it should inspire creativity, productivity and a sense of belonging.