The 5 Pillars of Hybrid Office Design; Making it Work For Your People

The office has changed a lot over the last 50 years, from cubicle culture to open plan spaces, rigid structures to agile working.

Now, we’re seeing the most important shift of all - from a traditional office towards hybrid workplace design. A change that not only impacts the layout of the workplace, but reflects a deeper cultural movement around how and where we work. 

Hybrid working: how is it working in 2024?

Hybrid working has been a reality for many since the pandemic. Now, detailed research is pointing to major long term benefits for the companies and employees who embrace it.

From improving productivity levels, to enhancing employee wellness and reducing carbon footprint, pressing ‘Go’ on a hybrid plan can improve performance metrics across the board.

The latest research into the outcomes of hybrid working published by the International Workplace Group highlights its successes compared to previous working paradigms:

• 75% of CEOS reported improved productivity from a hybrid workforce
• 74% of hybrid workers found they were more productive
• 76% said they were more motivated
• 85% reported increased  job satisfaction

The research also demonstrates that it’s becoming a deal breaker:

• 88% of employees consider hybrid working the leading benefit they will expect from a new role
• 50% of employees would only consider roles that allow them to work in a hybrid way

It’s no wonder, then, that three quarters of all CEOs expect to operate in a hybrid model five years from now.

How to design a hybrid workplace

With the hybrid model firmly established within many sectors, then, the challenge is planning workspaces that can support these teams most successfully.

Drawing on years of experience and research, here are our 5 pillars of a hybrid workplace that will bring your team the freedom to navigate a future of flexible working.

1. Make spaces for all modes of work

The hybrid workspace should provide a variety of different spaces to support a multitude of tasks. From taking a one-on-one meeting in a booth, moving to a desk for heads-down work, and using a meeting room for a team collaboration session - all in one afternoon.

Having an ecosystem of spaces for different activities allows people to find the best setup for what they need to get done, including connecting virtually with their remote colleagues. Hybrid teams will need quiet, private spaces to conduct virtual meetings with remote workers. 

But you don’t need to knock down walls or gain more space to provide this type of environment for your workers. Products such as acoustic screens and whiteboards can be used to create boundaries around collaboration spaces. While pods and booths can provide privacy for individual work or one-on-one meetings.

If you're choosing pods and booths to expand the range of spaces you can offer without  the cost and hassle of building or demolishing walls - choose designs that can be moved easily around. If your booths and pods have lockable casters and are easy to take apart and reassemble, they can be easily deployed in other parts of your building, too.

2. Be flexible and adaptable

Spaces need to be as flexible and adaptable as possible for hybrid work. We’re likely to see pods, booths and acoustic screens being used instead of constructed enclosed spaces. As well as moveable furniture and technology, such as digital screens, that can be rolled in when needed. 

For collaborative work, spacing and partitions can be used to provide more audio and visual privacy. 

Google have experimented with privacy robots with inflating cellophane balloon walls to create flexible spaces. A gimmick? Maybe. But like everyone else, they’re testing out new ideas and seeing what works.

3. Focus on technology

The hybrid office thrives on technology. Organisations hoping to develop a hybrid working model will need to consider what technology they are currently using, if it will be adequate to support your future plans.

Depending on your organisation, it may be that you just need better video conferencing technology, or better spaces to support those video conferences. Virtual whiteboards and moveable acoustic screens are just some examples of the tools that can support these meetings.

Microsoft has introduced elaborate conference rooms with curved tables, projection equipment and specialised mics and cameras that make “in-person participants feel like everyone’s present and remote participants feel like everyone’s remote.”

Google’s ‘campfire’ conference room concept features large wall screens for those on video, so all participants are on the same footing.

Source: 9to5Google

Technology will also be required for organisations moving to a hot-desking, or ‘flex desking’ system.

The key will be to make the journey of coming into the office and getting set up to work as easy as possible. A booking system may be adopted, where employees can log in and ‘book’ their desk for the day.

This way you won’t end up with people coming into the office and not being able to find a desk. It can also help you to limit the number of people in one space should social distancing guidelines return.

And when workers do arrive at a desk, they will need to be met with all the tools they need to work effectively. For example a monitor, mouse and keyboard, docking station for a laptop, as well as chargers and dongles.

4. Foster a sense of belonging

The trouble with hot desking is that without their own desk, workers may end up feeling disconnected and disengaged. Having space they can call their own helps workers to feel like a valued team member, rather than just a cog in the system.

To combat this, Nicola Gillen, author of Future Office: Next Generation Workplace Design, suggests workers who no longer have their own desks could instead share desks with neighbourhood desks or team pods. This way they’ll always have a home base within the workplace. They may also be given lockers or team shelving, not only to store their things, but to instil the sense of connection they may be craving.

Fostering a sense of belonging is the very essence of what the office helps to achieve. The office is a space where people can feel connected to their colleagues and to the organisation. But with individuals only spending one, two, three days in the office a week, the office needs to work harder to make them feel like they belong. 

Giving workers choice over how and where they work, as well as comfortable furniture that can be adjusted for their preferences, will help them to feel that sense of belonging and value. While colours, aesthetics and artwork that are on brand and make the most of the locality, can also help people feel connected to the space.

5. Encourage interaction

The hybrid office is a space for workers to come together in person, creating a company culture based on conscious and unconscious collaboration.

The office environment needs to promote serendipitous moments; the accidental collisions that force interaction and strengthen relationships between co-workers. These moments may be down to chance, but the environment in which they occur is not. The workplace itself can provide the routes and the prompts to encourage these chance encounters and boost connections.

Etsy's office has a central staircase designed in a unique way that encourages serendipitous encounters. The staircase has an irregular shape that forces people to zig-zag across the different flights, increasing the chances of running into colleagues from other teams.

The office also features a main street called the "Etsy Corridor" that has small meeting areas and workspaces branching off of it. This central artery increases traffic flow and chances for people to see and interact with others outside their immediate teams.

Source: Etsy

There are ways to create these opportunities within your existing workspace, too:

• Create spaces for one-on-one conversations and impromptu meetings with modular furniture or seats thoughtfully positioned for people to stumble across as they wander through the building.
• Remove coffee points in each department in order to encourage people to use the shared kitchen or breakout area.
• Include bar-style seats to support on-the-fly conversations as people drink their coffee, while comfortable seats will support deeper conversations.
• Make use of outdoor spaces where people can go to relax or unwind.

Summary

As the research from the IWG acknowledges, the future, for many, is hybrid. 

And with workers only in the office a few days a week, the office urgently needs to adapt to provide the best possible experience for when they are there.  

The future is flexible. Are you?

Editor’s note: this post was republished in July 2024 for accuracy.