Food for Thought: Reconfiguration

This month’s Food for Thought looks at reconfiguration as a tool for enticing employees back to the office. 

A study sited in Facilities Dive in November of 2023, outlined two trends impacting facilities managers planning for workplace optimization in the coming year: 

• 75% of businesses are downsizing office space square footage nationwide in the coming year while at the same time,

• 88% of employers are increasing in-office attendance requirements during the work week. 

For many of our clients this is translating to decommissioning and moving to smaller leased spaces. Even for clients who are remaining in existing leases for the time being, because of renegotiated terms with landlords or consolidation of work forces after downsizing, there is a new facilities challenge:  reconfiguration.  

Design of spaces that accommodate more structured schedules for hybrid in-office attendance policies, especially in smaller spaces, often require rethinking the furniture assets you need to make the workspace optimal for returning employees.

Here are several things to think about when reconfiguration is your challenge:

1. Start with culture and function in mind.  How you plan the space and reconfigure the furniture needed for your buildout, can make all the difference in terms of productivity as well as employee satisfaction for returning workers. 

According to JLL Research: “Productivity, though challenging to measure, can surge in human-rich environments – especially with the right balance of “we” space and “me” space.”

Take time to assess where you might need casual and open collaboration spaces, in addition to formal meeting rooms, and how they should be set apart from fixed workstations.

• Employees may not need an assigned personal space, but they may need the privacy of a cubicle when they return to the office because their work involves handling sensitive private information, inconsistent with side-by-side open plan seating. 

• Creative teams may need areas for impromptu huddles and larger worksurfaces to spread out creative work for evaluation, and larger display screens in common areas to review digital presentations.

• Sales teams may need to be on phone calls, but finance teams may need sound barriers to shield them from excess noise when they are concentrating on more analytical tasks.

Open plan schemes without assigned offices or seats might appear to be the most efficient reconfiguration, but some industries are more adaptive to shared seating schemes than others. Again, JLL research looks at industry variables when it comes to seating:

Anticipating the way your returning employees work together will dictate how your space designers will lay out furniture reconfiguration, even in smaller leased spaces, for optimal satisfaction. And partners like TFX can work with your own design teams to determine the most effective plans.

2. Support the reconfiguration with efficiencies, amenities and enhanced ergonomics.  If you are embracing an open shared seating plan for “hoteling” or “hot desking” where there is no assigned seating, make sure you have seamless process for desk booking, room scheduling for meetings and guest management.  In a study workplace scheduling platform Robin reported that over 74% of employees surveyed reported that a major frustration for shared seating was a cumbersome or time-consuming process for setting up reservations for their needs. No one wants to return to the office as mandated and find no place to work.

Employees will also expect reconfigurations to anticipate the most efficient access to shared equipment like printers and amenities like food and beverage stations.  Make sure your space designer can create an installation floor plan that optimizes flow through the space to navigate between seating and these important amenities.

New requirements are arising for alternatives to conventional desks and basic task chairs. Sit/stand desks are crucial to promote the ideal setup for employees with laptops, while high-top tables and seating are necessary for fostering informal collaboration. Ergonomically designed chairs are essential for individuals who must sit for extended periods. These items are crucial for employees expected to resume in-office work. Ensure that your furniture inventory can cater to these diverse needs for returning workers.

3. Support sustainability through reuse and remanufacture. Ideally furniture you already own can outfit the workplaces you are building out for your employees’ return. And you can document that inventory you own for reuse with tools from partners like Rheaply. 

But make sure you build in three factors in your reuse plans:

• Wherever your inventory resides, you need a partner to disassemble it, move it safely so that it arrives in the new space safely and undamaged, and based on your new plan it can be reassembled in your smaller space. If storage between decommissioning and reinstallation is required, your reconfiguration partner needs to be able to accommodate that.

• Smaller spaces may not accommodate the more ample desks, cubicles and workstations that used to populate your leased space. But even cubicles can be cut down and remanufactured to fit your new configuration and somewhat tired furniture can be refurbished and restored to “as new” warrantied conditions.  Make sure your remanufacturing partner is experienced in matching the design standards your employees expect.

• And if there are still unfilled furniture items you need to acquire, you can purchase additional remanufactured items for resale that will meet all your design standards for a totally cohesive workplace solution.

With a partner like TFX, our end-to-end full inhouse services can meet all these needs under one roof.

Reconfiguration to develop optimal workspaces can be a key component in your strategy for a successful return-to-office plan.  Get in touch with us now at inquiry@tfxfurniture.com to explore how TFX can simplify this aspect of your facilities management duties.