It is finally time to create office space around people's needs and not just peoples functions. We are all human beings, not human doings and this needs to be apparent. So, what does the future office look like with health and wellbeing at its priority?
2 minute read
18th August, 2020 | Remarcable
Office spaces have changed as technology has progressed throughout the years, first the cubicle then open plan, then a mixture of the two. Currently, we have hybrid adaptable spaces that are almost fluidic in their design, adaptable and modular. But we are still seeing too many workspaces that are not designed with the real focus of the needs of the people in mind. Putting aside the fact that "happy people work better," let's start with how we tend to organise our homes.
In our home environment, we seem to naturally create spaces that offer a place to work, rest, play, and rejuvenate, many of the elements that humans need to feel fulfilled. It makes no sense for the office environment to be built around the ideology of humans acting as robots. Solely to perform set tasks. We are not designed as machines, we are made up of 4 main bodies which are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. It is said in order to bring joy and harmony into our lives we need to have these 4 bodies in balance. Considering we spend the best years of our lives at work there is no better opportunity than at present to stop and think of how can we ensure we create a working environment that allows us to keep in check of these 4 bodies and to maintain a state of equilibrium between them.
The coronavirus pandemic that has overtaken the whole year of 2020 has come as both a blessing and a curse. The blessing has forced us to awaken to a new way of life when it comes to work/life balance. It allowed us to see the importance of things that we otherwise took for granted. Freedom of movement, access to the outdoors, importance of personal interaction. It allowed us to understand what we individually need in our lives to bring about peace and harmony. We know that office life will never be the same again, but why is this a negative? We are in no way discrediting the catastrophic effect that this pandemic has had on businesses, merely looking for the positives and how we can emerge stronger. We see it as a positive and an opportunity for human-centric growth, creating spaces that are going to be much more beneficial for us as humans to live a life that is much more fulfilling in all areas, and importantly, offering a lot more balance.
It is finally time to create office space around people's needs and not just peoples functions. We are all human beings, not human doings and this needs to be apparent. We can not possibly continue to go on as we have been in the past as it creates too much risk for emotional and physical burn out. (resulting in higher risk of mental health disorders).
We are extremely passionate about every aspect of health and wellbeing, in taking the time to really analyse what a space needs for your product and your people. We pride ourselves in being able to design into the space the key areas of work, rest, collaborate and rejuvenate that will allow your teams to thrive.
Creating hybrid spaces that offer an area that can be used for physical activity such as yoga or HIIT training as well as emotional and mental activities such as meditation and breathwork will encourage your staff to have healthier choices and benefiting them in all areas including memory function, strengthening the immune system, vitality, stamina, productivity and the list goes on.
So what is your emergence plan, and how will you adapt your space to facilitate growth, personal wellbeing and creativity better?
