Over the last few years, our industry has been inundated with new trends and data on which workplace concept is the most conducive to productivity. After the “open concept” gained traction, organizations tore down the cubicle walls and created fully open, collaborative environments. This worked well for awhile, until it became very clear that private spaces within a workplace are crucial as well. So what do we do? We embrace the needs of the individual.
What’s that mean, you might ask? Embracing the needs of the individual means catering to individual needs no matter what task they’re trying to complete. Need a spot where your remote staff can feel part of the team when they come into the office? There’s a space for that. Need a private area where HR can discuss compensation with a prospective employee? There’s a space for that. Need a zone where team members can meet and collaborate on an upcoming pitch? You guessed it. There’s a space for that.
This means going beyond surface-level personalization. It requires intentional decisions about space planning and furniture solutions. As Allsteel notes, intentionally inclusive design ensures that spaces adapt to a variety of workstyles and individual needs, supporting everyone’s best work.
It can be overwhelming to build a space to accommodate every single employee’s needs. Per our friends at Allsteel, consider this — how can you create a workspace that is both:
- Open and enclosed
- Owned and communal
- Individual and team-based
- Work-driven and social
- Focused and collaborative
- Physical and digital
Some of these features will be more important to your organization than others. To help you hone in on this, we recommend working with an RJE representative — or our friends at DORIS — to see what will be most impactful for you.
Future-ready workplaces don’t happen by accident—they are the result of intentional planning. Drawing on insights from Allsteel’s approach to intentional inclusion can help guide choices that make your environment flexible, inclusive, and supportive for every individual.
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