Office Design Trends 2024

In 2024, we have seen offices take priority in flexibility and collaboration with a focus on the ongoing adaptation to post-pandemic life, with some businesses aiming to bring back the office desk throughout their office design. 

Throughout this blog, we will discuss the changes to the office environment observed in 2024, with predictions for the future and the effects they will have on employees within the workplace.

Biophilic Office Designs

Back in 2018, we discussed the up-and-coming trend of biophilic design in our ‘Office Design Trends 2018 blog’. Essentially, biophilic design aims to bring the outdoors in. This is done through incorporating natural environmental elements into buildings and workspaces, such as materials, textiles and colours. A large part of biophilic design is the importance of natural lighting over artificial lighting. 

In 2024, the popularity of biophilic offices has taken off, particularly since pandemic life, when many employees were able to work from home and embrace nature easily from their own gardens, as opposed to dark and artificially lit offices. 

A 2020 journal article found that biophilic environments helped reduce stress and anxiety, leading to greater job satisfaction and a higher level of productivity. 

At Office Blinds and Glazing, we also believe that incorporating natural elements into the workplace helps boost employee morale and satisfaction, particularly natural light. With our glass office partitions, you can easily allow access to the outside world by substituting solid walls for glass partitions, opening up spaces and allowing a flood of natural light from room to room. 

With an abundance of benefits, from physical to psychological, investing in glass partitions for your workspace not only cuts down on the cost of electricity bills but creates a more productive working environment for your employees. For a more in-depth look into natural light, read our blog ‘The benefits of natural light in the workplace’.

Collaborative Working

Since the Covid pandemic, hybrid or remote working has become the norm within many businesses. With employees opting to work from home more regularly, collaborative working has taken a back foot, with Zoom or Teams now becoming the main middle-man. 

A trend in 2024 now is to bring back collaborative workspaces, encouraging employees to work together face-to-face. Offices are changing in how they arrange their furniture, often prioritising modular collaborative spaces, allowing for flexibility with how furniture can be arranged, suiting different tasks or team sizes. With moveable desks and modular seating, employees can now customise their environment for specific projects, allowing for easy collaboration with colleagues or departments. 

Through encouraging collaboration, a greater sense of community is built within the workplace, fostering creativity and problem-solving, often resulting in better outcomes than solo working. 

Returning to the Office

As we have spoken about above, there has become a recent prioritisation within businesses to bring employees back into the office. Over the past year, we have begun to see a change in the amount of employees who are working fully remotely and even those who are working hybridly. 

As of October 2023, 43% of employees now say they are working fully in an office setting, with 39% of employees adopting a hybrid working approach. Compared to 2022, those working fully in an office have risen by 7%, and those working hybridly have dropped by 4%. Employers are doing more to bring their employees back into the workplace, such as providing more collaborative workstations and improving office aesthetics and perks. 

Although more employees are returning to new and improved offices, there is still a large need for independent workspaces. Providing a mix of collaborative spaces with independent focus stations seems to be the best way to provide employee satisfaction, and boost the return-to-office retainment that we once had. 

Focus on mental health and well-being

A large benefit of more people returning to the office is a greater sense of community and employee satisfaction. Employers are aware of the implications of remote working, such as social isolation and the temptation to overwork. Through encouraging a return-to-office, employers are putting a focus on improving employee mental health and wellbeing through creating private spaces for focus or relaxation, incorporating natural light and greenery, and even providing access to perks such as baristas, gym memberships or activities such as walks or yoga sessions. Through all of this, a more efficient work-life balance is promoted, building social interaction and a greater sense of community. 

At Office Blinds and Glazing, we help provide health and well-being practices directly into your office through products such as glass blinds and fire screen doors. Glass blinds offer a sense of privacy whilst maintaining the influx of natural light throughout your working space. Allowing your employees private spaces for personal meetings helps reduce stress and anxiety within the office, boosting satisfaction and productivity. As with office blinds, fire screen doors help show your employees your prioritisation of health and safety, further fostering a reduction in stress and anxiety and boosting productivity. 

To conclude, the office is an ever-changing environment, adapting to trends in society and from business to business. With more of a focus on employee well-being, offices are changing to be more inclusive and aiming to bring workers back to their office desks. 

At Office Blinds and Glazing, we can offer a variety of services to help improve your office space, with over 30 years of experience, we are your ideal partner in providing an updated 2024 office design. Get in touch with us today for more information.