The traditional corporate “office” has experienced profound upheavals since the end of the health crisis. Hybrid work has forced organizations to reinvent their workspaces to meet the new needs of their employees. What does the office of 2023 look like?
Difficulty finding the “right” office
A recent company report AKTIS-PARTNERS.COMcorporate real estate consultancy and pioneer of the “operated office”, revealed the growing difficulties of companies in finding the “right” office.
One of the difficulties lies in the desire of companies to respond to one of the major challenges of 2023: improving quality of life. Companies would like to find places where they can offer additional benefits and services in order to optimize and enhance their employer brand and the well-being of their employees.
But 62% of companies have difficulty establishing the measures to improve the quality of life at work in the offices that they find on the market.
However, employees want to have access to new services, such as:
- Wellness/beauty services (57% of respondents).
- Postal services, such as relay points (55%).
- Sports lessons (51%).
- Company crèche (44%).
Another difficulty lies in finding offices suitable for hybrid working. 71% of companies have difficulty finding a place that meets the obligations of teleworking (hybrid, flexible offices, etc.). 67% find themselves more particularly blocked by the equipment and layout needs of new tools (virtual spaces, callboxes, etc.).
Trends in new hybrid offices
Office designers are showing more and more originality in reinventing themselves and finding solutions to the new needs of employees.
THE new trends for offices in 2023 are then multiple. THE flexible workspaces have taken the place of “simple” open spaces. These dynamic modular systems, with removable partitionsshelves on wheels or interchangeable desks underline the versatility and practicality of the new furniture design.
Since collaborative work is increasingly important, new offices often have many meeting rooms of all sizesperfectly soundproofed.
Noise pollution at work has become a real problem since employees returned to the office. The latter, accustomed to the calm of their homes, find it increasingly difficult to endure phone calls in the Open Space or noisy discussions. Set up compartmentalized spaces for telephoning, such as individual acoustic cabinshas almost become a “must have” in today’s offices.
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Offices that must be at the service of the collective
According to a recent report by IDET, the most important contribution of offices would be the promotion of teamwork in companies, through the offer of collaborative spaces (99%), the possibility of holding face-to-face meetings (97%) and the provision social spaces (96%).
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Decision makers seem to largely agree on the unifying role of these workspaces. Offices are also representations and anchor points of corporate culture (89%).
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Only 8% of respondents consider that offices no longer have added value compared to other workspaces.
Examples of innovative offices around the world
Because workspaces have also become places of life for employees, innovative offices are emerging all over the world.
For example :
- Microsoft in Redmond (Washington State), which has created a veritable office campus in the trees with its Treehouse Meeting Space.
- Danone in Paris (France), which imposed the flex office on the employees of its Parisian head office, creating multiple small spaces that can be privatized.
- Ogilvy & Mather in Guangzhou (China), which has created playful offices whose decoration is inspired by the fairground.
- Bodet Software, in Cholet (France), which created Otium, a 1,500 m2 space dedicated to quality of life at work.
The boom in flexible workspaces (in particular) in the regions
As confirmed by the 2023 version of the study report of The Instant Group France on the French Flex market, flexible workspaces are on the rise. And the demand for flexible workspaces is increasing in the regions, while the demand in Île-de-France continues to drop each year.
Cities such as Nice, Lille and Marseille are thus experiencing growth in the supply of flexible workspaces, stimulated by technological advances, the search for quality of life for employees, the presence of a pool of university talent and more attractive workstation prices in the regions (€757 per workstation in 2022 in Paris / €410 in Nice).
If in inner Paris, the market continues to grow with an increase of 10% in 2022 and a demand for flexible offices of 46% in Île-de-France, regional cities have an even stronger demand: 11% in Nantes , 45% in Marseille, 60% in Lille and 70% in Nice.
Third places, more and more requested by employees
The IDET (formerly the Association of Directors of the Work Environment) recently published the results of its barometer “Decision makers and the transformation of work environments”.
We learn that work habits outside professional premises have changed considerably. The use of third places has almost doubled after the confinements, rising from fourth to second workspace used remotely (24% to 42% today, an increase of 18%).
Third places allow employees to work with other people, make new contacts and develop new skills. With the rise of hybrid working and the influence of the collaborative economy, the number of third places has increased considerably in France, by 20% between January 2021 and December 2022 according to the France Tiers Lieu association.
Cafés or hotels remain the third largest telework space outside the home (35%, +7% after confinement), after public transport and third places. Finally, although teleworking abroad has also increased (from 25% to 32%), it is less popular due to the rise of third places.
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