There is no doubt that the trend toward hybrid workplaces has been with us for some time – gaining momentum as supporting technology developed. Tools like cell phones and laptops have untethered people from “the office.” Email, texting, video chatting over wireless networks using apps like FaceTime, WeChat and WhatsApp, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have enabled much improved mobile connectivity. Adoption of these tools and an acceptance that knowledge workers didn’t need to be in a certain place to be effective had been growing exponentially before the pandemic. Then the pandemic forced the world to accept “hybrid work” with one global blow
But well before we’d ever heard of COVID-19 many product development teams recognized that more flexible management philosophies regarding the design of the workplace presented a need for new furniture typologies and an opportunity for growth if they developed the solutions first, or hopefully, best. One such company is Stylex. Long known for well-designed, well-made seating, in 2013 management felt the shift to more flexible workspaces provided it with a great opportunity to strike out in new directions. The result is that as of this writing “Stylex is more than just a seating company.”
Product development at Stylex is led by CEO and design director Bruce Golden and consists of an in-house team of designers and engineers that supports outside design firms as well as developing some home-grown designs in-house. At NeoCon in 2019 Stylex introduced Free Address, a comprehensive solution for collaborative work environments that was itself the product of a collaboration with the Gensler Product Design team. For Stylex, NeoCon was a bit of a coming-out party with casegoods, tables, cubbies, lockers, privacy screens, planters and yes, even modular seating – all presented as a flexible kit of parts providing a huge range of planning options. The product took Silver in the Best of NeoCon, Furniture Collections for Collaboration, category.
On a roll, Stylex has since added even more options with more heights and widths for tables and storage elements and new seating to support the flexiblity of Free Address – bringing us to Free Address 2.0. None of this is to minimize the importance of the ergonomic seating that has been the staple of what Stylex has been known for.
Now, in support of its new offering Stylex has created a well-researched guide for designers to both consider as they design workspaces and use to help clients navigate the new and challenging world of the hybrid office.
A Guide to Creating the Ultimate Hybrid Work Environments
- Support and Prioritize Well-Being: For many organizations, the office is no longer a mandate. To encourage those creative collaborations and innovations that take place when workers come together, the office must become a magnet. The first step in creating an environment where workers actually want to be is designing a space for well-being.
- Embrace Biophilic Design: Bringing nature into the workplace through biophilic design not only has a positive effect on our health and well-being, it also affects our productivity and success in the office. It has been found that employees who work in environments with natural elements report a 15% higher level of well-being, are 6% more productive, and 15% more creative Plus, the benefits of biophilic design go beyond enhancing well-being, extending to positive financial impacts for organizations. Built environments with strong biophilic design attributes result in reduced illness and absenteeism, improvement in staff retention, and even faster healing rates.
- Infuse Color: In the office, skillful use of colors can boost your productivity, health, and even Tapping intocolor psychology can also improve your employees’ productivity and job satisfaction, and positively impacts how yourclients, visitors, and customers perceive your business. Stylex’s plethora of color choices give you the ability to choose whichever colors best fit your industry and workplace goals.
- Ensure Health & Safety: Making sure employees feel safe when returning to work is Insufficient safety measurescan severely undermine productivity and lead to an accumulation of stress amongst workers.
- Provide Storage & Organization for Clutter-Free, Productive Work Areas: Shifting away from personal office desks and towards the hot desking system means fewer personal items being left out in To support this notion, it’simportant to have places where employees can store any miscellaneous supplies to avoid items being left out on desks and tables. Plus, research shows that there is a direct correlation between productivity and clutter.
- Say Goodbye to Permanent Arrangements and Design for Resiliency: If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that change is the new normal, so when it comes to the office, nothing within it should be permanent or fixed. Workspaces should be designed to be 100% flexible to seamlessly pivot and adapt to new ways of working, so that when the next crisis happens, itdoesn’t feel like a catastrophe, but more like a speed
- Create Flexible Work Zones: While most people prefer a hybrid model, depending on an individual’s family situation, where they live, work-style, and overall lifestyle, their reasons often differ. It has been found that mostly-open environments with on-demand privacy — like phone rooms or focus rooms — are most desired by employees and return the highesteffectiveness and satisfaction ratings.
- Don’t Forget WFH Ergonomics: Because your employees won’t be in the office every day, you need to make sure they also are supported at home. This means saying goodbye to the dining room table and working from bed. Unsurprisingly, chiropractors have since reported a surge in patients with neck and back pain. Most injuries associated with remote working are preventable and can be addressed by confirming that employee workstations are set up for optimal comfort and ergonomics. As working from home becomes a part of the regular workweek, making sure your employees have an ergonomic workstation not only improves their health and safety, but boosts productivity as well. Below are a few of Stylex’s ergonomic solutions for a safer home
In a Zoom interview, Mr. Golden recently said, “While working from home has given us a new vantage point on the benefits of flexible schedules and reduced commute times, it has also simultaneously magnified the importance of in-person interactions and culture-building that take place in the office. The hybrid work model lends a new meaning to the purpose of the office and how it is utilized.
Pre-pandemic, the goal of office work was productivity. Post-pandemic, this has become a secondary role, with building corporate culture as its primary focus. This social aspect of the workplace is important to maintain, as studies have long shown that frequent in-person interactions produce commitment, support, and cooperation among people on teams.”
We are still in the early stages of the opportunity to return to work and only time will tell exactly how hybridized the future of workplaces will be, but products like Free Address 2.0 will definitely play a part in making hybrid work environments effective.
