The Near Future State of the Office—Our Point of View
Three guiding principles and how we’re creating an agile and flexible space one step at a time | 2 min read
Are you a business owner, principal, architect, interior designer, real estate professional, or decision-maker at your company? If so, you’re most likely asking yourself the timely and intelligent question, “what’s the future of the office?”.
Catalyst is a leading commercial furniture dealer igniting smarter ways to work. We provide furniture, architectural products, installation, move services, and expertise focused on the office and the built environment, so naturally, we have asked ourselves the same question. To help form our answer, we’ve allowed the following three principles to guide us.
1. Things Have Changed
The last ten months have proven most work traditionally completed at the office can be done remotely. We now view others’ lives through a more empathetic lens. Consequently, we’re questioning and examining the traditional ways we’ve worked in the past and have opened our minds to different possibilities. It is reasonable to say; we are considering redesigning how and where we work to align more authentically with our daily lives.
2. An Office Serves A Fundamental Human Purpose
An office serves as a grounding meeting space for people to collaborate, spark ideas, and feel inspired and energized. Additionally, it provides a place to access resources not available at home.
3. The Next Best Thing May Not Be For You
The world is full of information, and companies constantly marketing “the best solution” at every turn. We’re here to remind you to slow down, identify your unique needs, and take things one step at a time.
Taking these three principles into context has helped us form an action plan in which we’re unwaveringly confident.
Our goal?
To create a safe, fluid, and engaging place for our teams to gather, circulate, have fun, collaborate, and become energized and inspired. We’re accomplishing this by designing our facilities to be easily changeable to support our teams and their needs, which aren’t always met at home. We’re focused on adding value in the right spots by providing our people with a healthy change of scenery that feels familiar to home and offers resources and technology exclusive to the office.