FM newsroom – facility management, office design. Game rooms, rooftop running tracks, terrace barbecues, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, mobile applications, home office and hybrid working methods. What factors help preserve employees’ human identity in the transforming world of offices?
Redefining Community at Work
We constantly hear that community is the remedy for loneliness and burnout. However, the power of communities also manifests in creativity and inspiration, as individuals influence each other, and their performance adds up in a collective setting. Therefore, we must create spaces that encourage better performance—diverse, colourful, and flexible spaces, as economx suggests.
Multifunctional spaces bridge the gap between home and workplace. They allow workplaces to evolve into communities where the shared goal is success—the company’s success, which is the sum of individual achievements.
Office Buildings with a Human Touch
Facility operators and owners now recognise that a tenant is not a faceless company or organisation but a group of employees, each with their own personality, needs, traits, and desires.
In the growing competition, office buildings are now targeting people with their services and designs—and through them, the companies—so they choose to rent office space in that specific building. This is a kind of evolution and bundling, a typical win-win situation: if the company retains its employees, the office building retains its tenants. If employees love their workplace, the company also feels at home in the building.
Ergonomics Beyond the Desk and Chair
Ergonomics covers many factors, from the physical environment (lighting, noise, furnishings, proper posture) to work organisation and the social environment. Its key principle is that the work environment should be designed according to the needs of the people working there.
The 21st-century office worker typically spends much time in front of a screen, often working long hours without breaks, in noisy environments, and mostly sitting. To prevent health issues, ergonomic offices prioritise, besides physical health, eye health, influenced by window placement, natural vs. artificial lighting ratios, and screen work.
Another critical factor is psychological comfort, which is affected by colours, wall and floor shades, room sizes, and noise levels. Proper seating and desks are essential to prevent musculoskeletal problems, with correct posture being a central concern.
Wellbeing is the New Workplace Standard
There is a growing emphasis on employees’ physical and mental health in offices. Wellbeing is a complex concept—it appears in ergonomics, the design of (community)spaces and varied workstations, material choices, and controlling natural light, fresh air, and temperature in a given room.
Additional elements include healthy food options, company events, and opportunities for physical activity such as fitness rooms, running tracks, and massages.
Sustainable Spaces, Smarter Work
Due to ESG requirements and cost-effectiveness, environmental awareness and energy efficiency have come to the forefront in next-generation office buildings. Alongside energy-saving bulbs, water-saving taps and toilets, and low-consumption appliances, elements like indoor plants or green walls, green roofs, selective waste collection, heat pump systems, and intelligent building management (lighting, heating-cooling, humidity, ventilation) are increasingly important.
Nowadays, only buildings with green certifications—like LEED or BREEAM, and possibly WELL or Access4you wellbeing labels—are considered competitive.
