In the past two years work has changed forever. Companies who never planned to offer remote working options had to quickly adapt when the pandemic shut everything down, or risk shutting down themselves. With supply chains impacted and people discovering that they enjoyed a newfound freedom, it’s time to discuss the ways that workplaces need to adapt and grow. While remote work is one piece of the puzzle, it’s evident that work is no longer done in a silo. Companies need all their staff working together toward the same goal to grow and advance their vision.

Collaborative Spaces

This isn’t about conference rooms. Collaborative spaces foster ideas, innovations, and refine teams of people to be better equipped to handle the next evolution of business. Collaboration helps leaders see where their vision might meet roadblocks and people can work together to devise ways to overcome those obstacles. It’s about having people who understand your work close at hand in a desk pod or nearby your workstation so you can easily bounce ideas off another individual.

It’s not just about a space, it’s a mindset. Do you have room in your mind to envision ways to include other ideas, or does everything need to be done the exact way you initially thought of it? Do you allow your staff to freely roam and communicate with people who can help them with their projects? Make room in your company for collaboration and you’ll see it soar.

Smaller Desks

No longer are people using clunky PC’s and monitors. They probably don’t have a lot of paper to deal with either. So why are all the work desks so big and clunky? When you look at your office and your desire to grow, how do you envision fitting more staff in the office? One way to do it is to put in smaller desks. You can still create workstations that suit your employees without needing giant desks. Growing your company means you’ll need more people. And using smaller desks means you’ll be able to realize that vision sooner.

Ergonomic Workstations

Rethinking your workspace means you need to think about efficiency and the tasks being done. Ergonomic workstations are important not only for the task, but for the person doing it. Is the workstation designed for the work being performed? Can people do their work without pain? While it might sound simple, this is much more complex than you’d realize. While desk height and the angle of screens plays into ergonomics, it’s also about ensuring everyone can do the work they need to complete without injury. Sometimes, training employees to move something just a few inches can make a world of difference in productivity.

Virtual Working Environments

Technology has transformed the way work gets done. 50 years ago, the idea of everyone being able to work from home and get work done would’ve been laughed away. Only executives and CEOs were privileged enough to bring their work home. But nowadays, almost any office job can be done from home. Virtual work environments means that you can get your projects completed without being present in a particular office building. To create a virtual work environment, you’ll need a combination of software and solid expectations. Whether you add software to computers to track work, or you track deadlines and completion of projects, you’ll want to create documentation for staff to understand the expectations.

Allow More Social Interaction

Have you ever been reprimanded for being too social? People were made to be social. It’s only natural to want to connect with and communicate with the people you are around for hours a day. Employers should not be tracking their chatty employees unless their work is suffering, or they are causing someone else’s work to suffer. The best workplaces allow social interactions throughout the day without babysitting and punishing their staff.

You would do well to create morning and afternoon social times to give your staff a break, and permission to hang out. You could offer fun things to do like foosball and video games, or have coffee and couches where people can sit, relax, and just chat. These little breaks may seem frivolous, but they go a long way to create staff who are productive and content at work.