Blurring the Lines - Hospitality At Work
Work environments and hospitality spaces grow closer together as stylish and sophisticated millennials prefer environments that both inspire and support their work lifestyle. Here's what you need to know.
Set the Mood Upfront
First impressions matter. Having a unique and customized lobby area gives companies an opportunity to leave a lasting impression on future employees, clients, and visitors while showcasing their brand and overall aesthetic. The materials, color palette, biophilic additions, and mood lighting all play an important role in welcoming individuals into their space.
Create a Social Hub
Workplaces are offering amenities like cafés with a variety of specialty cuisines and small “micro kitchens” stocked with healthy snacks, coffee, and other beverages as an additional perk for employees. These spaces don’t function strictly as dining areas, but also as places to meet and socialize. Large break rooms require flexible furniture so they can be used for all-hands meetings, and cafes are furnished with lounge seating in small clusters, to allow for small group meetings and huddles.
Showcase Your Outdoor Space
With real estate prices rising, it can be difficult to acquire outdoor space at work. But the outdoor workplace trend is proving to have a strong payoff. Utilizing outdoor spaces as a working environment is productive for employees who appreciate having flexibility in their working styles. Outdoor workplaces are also shown to have positive effects on employees' physical and mental well-being as well as creative thinking.
Create Private Spaces to Inspire & Support
Personal space is highly valued, especially in the workplace. Having a variety of privacy options provides employees with quiet spaces to focus and feel comfortable. Private rooms that are aesthetically pleasing and efficiently designed can also bring inspiration and promote creativity among employees. We see this trend growing as employees hope to gain back some of the privacy that they lost with the adoption of open plan environments.
We expect hospitality influences and amenities to continue to grow in the workplace as the elements of commercial and hospitality designs blur together.