3 Ways Office Spaces Are Changing

Wake up. Get out of bed. Go to your at-home desk. 

The process of working from home is starting to get a little boring, but heading into the office seems so old school. COVID-19 forced us to decide what services are deemed essential, and office spaces didn’t make the cut. It makes us question, what’s going to happen to office spaces? Will we stay at home wearing a fancy dress shirt with comfy sweatpants even after the pandemic is over? Office spaces are adapting along with the rest of the world. Advances in our latest technology allow for a steady integration back into the office. Even with a vaccine on the way, there are lasting effects that change the way we operate in the office environment. At Mappedin, we predict 3 impactful transformations will occur.  

1. Hotel-style offices

Remote positions have made the demand for office spaces plummet. It seems that some people no longer need a specific desk with their name on a plaque. Instead, offices are transitioning to a hotel-style system. Office buildings are becoming a shared space. With this new fluid transformation, technology such as ServiceNow’s Workplace Service Delivery makes returning to the office an effortless process. Mappedin’s integration with ServiceNow enables users to see which meeting rooms, desks, and spaces are available for booking, creating a flexible and connected environment.

Additional services such as contact tracing can be essential to our new normal. With people coming and going, Mappedin maintains information about who has been in the office in the event of an outbreak. ServiceNow allocates for visitor-log in at the front desk, maintaining everyone’s safety. Offices are becoming interchangeable and with the help of Mappedin and ServiceNow, your team’s office can be a comfortable space.

 2. Reduced capacity

Cramming as many people as possible into a room is a concept that has been stripped from today’s world. Now, we try to distance as much as possible. Organizations are predicted to cap staff numbers at about 30% to accommodate social distancing. With regard to the hotel-style office system, it is predicted that offices will implement remote work and have rotating office days to space out how many people occupy the building. With this in mind, redesigning offices can be tricky.

Mappedin has the solution by allowing users to try different floor plans to optimize space management. Keeping the environment spacious also allows for better hygiene in the office. Further digitizing the office can provide access to information such as the quality and flow of air. Mappedin’s Smart Air Visualizer is a technology that ensures venues have the best air quality possible, keeping employees and visitors safe and healthy. Using tools like the Smart Air Visualizer ensures a successful and effective office design when reducing capacity.

3. Office wayfinding

Returning to the office is going to look different from the typical Monday morning chat by the water fountain, because well… where is the water fountain? With the implementation of hotel-style offices, employees no longer have a habitual route that can be memorized. Hotel-style offices and reduced capacity mean the office’s layout is inevitably going to change on a regular basis… so why not make that transition smooth? 

Since COVID, the demand for wayfinding has increased tremendously. Walking into an unfamiliar environment can be stressful and time-consuming. Digital indoor maps and wayfinding can take an employee straight to the desk of a person they are attempting to find. Wayfinding creates a direct path to limit movement around the office, as people have become conscious of touching and spreading germs along the way. Users can see their precise location within the building with our blue dot experience and digital maps allow employees to see the blocked-off areas in the office. Visitors entering the office can locate a department or room easily, saving time and confusion. 

Wake up. Get out of bed. Plan your trip. Go to the office.

Throughout the pandemic, we have been trained to interact through a screen and rely on our technology, so why throw that away? We can now advance from Zoom and Microsoft Teams into Wayfinding and Workplace Service Delivery. Digitizing the office integrates our knowledge of technology into the physical world. 

As office spaces continue to change, stay connected with Mappedin. Learn more about our solutions for offices or book a demo today.