What are the top office design trends in 2024? Firstly, hybrid office design will become even more popular. Secondly, sustainability in the office shall gain importance. Thirdly, intelligent devices will become more common. Fourthly, mindful design will become a must. Do you want to learn more about these and several other trends? Then read on!
Most Important Office Design Trends for 2024
Office layout, equipment, and decor are crucial – after all, they create the atmosphere and might affect productivity and your employees’ well-being. Therefore, let’s look into the most promising office design trends in 2024 and see what is going to be popular this year and why.
Hybrid and Flexible Offices
If you’ve been up-to-date with the most popular workplace design trends, you are probably aware that hybrid and flexible offices have been around since the end of the pandemic. After all, they are the consequence of turning into remote and hybrid work models.
In 2024, we should see a rise in the number of companies changing their office layout to hybrid and flexible ones. This is because, after the initial return to the traditional work model after the pandemic, more and more employers began to recognize that the employees strive for the ability to work from home. Hybrid, flexible offices are perfect for that – they provide a less expensive, versatile space for those who wish (or have to) work from the office.
The use of different spaces and elements such as office phone booths, the versatility of various rooms, each with a separate decor and furniture, adjusting the space so that it would be effective both for 20 and 100 employees – this is what we expect to see even more often in 2024.
Sustainable Offices
We also find sustainability among the most important office trends in 2024. It means a lot to the employees. Therefore, we expect it not to be just a trend per se – sustainability may become one of the key factors considered by potential employees applying to a given company.
What do sustainable offices mean? Anything that is good for the environment! It can take many forms, starting with embracing natural light instead of artificial lighting to reduce energy usage, up to installing solar panels on top of the building to produce clean energy.
Smart Offices
Phones are smart, devices are smart, and now it’s time for offices to join this enlightened group. This particular office trend for 2024 is characterized by using Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as intelligent lightbulbs or switches.
Why will it be important? First of all, smart offices will be much more comfortable for the employees since they can be easily adjusted to their individual needs (for instance, one can dim the light easily with the use of an app). Secondly, such devices can be used to measure the efficiency of the employees or even monitor how office space is used to implement further improvements. Finally, smart solutions can help reduce energy consumption, decreasing the costs of running the office and fitting into the sustainability trend.
Mindful Office Design
Mindful workspaces – ones that are quiet, have diverse spaces (designed for embracing different senses), are clean, and have areas purely for practicing mindful exercises – are yet another of the 2024 office design trends.
Employee well-being is finally gaining recognition, and employers look for ways to reduce employee burnout and improve their overall mental health. Since mindful office design is a way to achieve those goals, we are bound to see more of it in 2024.
More Personal Workspaces
While at the beginning of hybrid office design, we could see a rise in hot desks (often presented as an advantage by hiring companies), in 2024, this office design trend is about to be reversed. Employees strive for a piece of their own private space in the workplace, so assigned (or chosen) desks are about to come back.
This is proven by the fact that, ironically, by the end of 2023, we could see hot desks being described as a disadvantage and companies promising in their job offers that they do not embrace this concept.
Quiet Spaces Are a Must
The final of our six office design trends is: building quiet spaces. While not every company will embrace hybrid offices or pursue sustainability to the fullest, we can clearly see that managers realize the importance of providing their employees with fully soundproof spaces to work in, so office booths, acoustic wall panels, and other soundproofing materials will become much more common.
The Takeaway
As you can see, many of the office design trends in 2024 are the same as for 2023. After all, many companies are still only starting their shift to a more modern workplace, and the employees themselves are just beginning to understand the importance of the space they work in. But, as the time comes, the trends are bound to change, with even more innovations coming into life.
You may also read: Creating a Zen Zone - Designing Relaxation Spaces in the Office