We have teamed up with the amazing Rachel Smith from Clutter is the Enemy, to give us an enlightened view on all things 'workspacey', including clutter, free space, colour and peace!
Take it away Rachel...
The word office has always been synonymous with bland, grey, inhospitable box. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In a world where WFH and hybrid working have been the norm for the last few years, people expect, and indeed deserve, more from the space that is essentially their second home. They’ve grown accustomed to their creature comforts and being surrounded by things they love.
So what should an office look like in 2025?
An extension of home. If your people are coming back to the office, you’re still trying to lure them in, or reduce absenteeism, then why not create an environment that makes them feel good? If you’re wanting to improve staff efficiency and productivity then you need to provide your workforce with a space that encourages those behaviours. It’s not just about a pool table and free pizza on a Friday.
Kill the clutter
Efficiency and productivity will be affected if people’s work and storage spaces are chaotic. If you want the office to be a calm, clutter-free zone then you need to sort out all the cupboards and drawers. We say “Tidy desk, tidy mind”, but it goes deeper than that. If someone’s environment is consistently in chaos then their work practices will be too. They will need help to sort it out and you probably also need to look at what else is going on in their lives. They might be neurodivergent, or they may have some stuff going on at home, so be very aware that your environment affects your mental health, and your mental health affects your environment. Be kind. Don’t just encourage everyone to tip the contents of their desk into a drawer at the end of the day. And don’t assume that everyone knows how to organise themselves, they don’t.
Let them break out and roam free
No-one has ever done their best work chained to a desk from 9 to 5 being micromanaged. And we all know that the most successful ideas don’t usually happen in stale grey meeting rooms sitting round a table either. So if you want your people to be creative (and let’s face it, every business needs creativity) then give them the freedom to be so. Give them the gift of space: comfortable areas where they can meet up with colleagues in a relaxed way to bounce ideas around and deepen relationships. Encourage them to take their shoes off, sit on the floor, on sofas, in booths, by giving them spaces where they feel free and comfortable. And trust in the process - that’s when the magic will happen.
Give them peace
Whilst it’s great to have communal areas that encourage conversation and collaboration, it’s also super important to have quiet areas for concentration. Some people just don’t do so well with noise or distraction, so give them a sound-proof booth or quiet room that they can escape to if the rest of the space is too rowdy or becomes overwhelming. Sometimes, people just really need to get their head down and concentrate or have a private conversation, so give them a space where they can do that. By going broken plan and incorporating sliding doors into your space, you can have the flexibility of opening up or closing off spaces as necessary.
So you see in 2025 the word office should be more synonymous with the word ‘home’ than anything else. To bring the best out in your people you need to listen to them, support them, and nurture them, and you need to provide an environment where they can grow and flourish and be the best version of themselves. Have a look around you. How homely is your workspace and how does it make you feel? And more importantly, how does it make your people feel? Have you ever asked them?
Watch this Space for Part 2.
