The working from home revolution

As the coronavirus pandemic took hold across the world, our homes became workplaces almost overnight. The working from home revolution looks set to stay with offices becoming hubs for face-to-face collaboration when we finally emerge into the ‘new normal’. But our impromptu pop-up work spaces need to be adapted in order to be fit for purpose. The new trend report, The Future of the Home, produced by Aritco and Springwise, uncovers the latest innovations that will transform our home offices into havens of safety, productivity and professionalism.

With hygiene high on the agenda, the report looks to the healthcare sector for lightweight, modular, self-cleaning antimicrobial room dividers made from sustainable materials to create flexible workspaces at home. The Future of the Home also unveils a customisable furniture kit that creates a work-appropriate aesthetic with presentation stands, storage cabinets that double as display boards and an adjustable desk on wheels for standing presentations. A digital studio that can create compelling video presentations with virtual backgrounds and synchronised video streaming adds fun and professional polish to remote meetings.

Thanks to a slew of video conferencing platforms, light and portable laptops and the proliferation of Wifi, remote working has been an emerging trend for many years, but most companies were reluctant to trust their staff to work from home. The pandemic has proved that remote working can if fact boost productivity if domestic work stations are practical, comfortable and ideally physically separated from the family home. Whilst the corporate office looks set to change into a hub for collaboration and team building, our home offices need to evolve from a makeshift desk in the corner of a bedroom or the kitchen table into a dedicated space that helps us focus and is engaging and presentable for clients and colleagues when we connect via Zoom, Teams or Skype.

Property developers may be planning to include personalised home offices in new builds moving forward, but most of us simply need to modify our current homes. Just as Aritco has long been adept at retro-fitting houses to adapt to new ways of living with its fully customisable HomeLifts, other innovative companies are designing desks, furniture and room dividers for the home offices of the future.

Video conferencing calls have replaced face-to-face meetings for many months now, and they have offered insights into our domestic settings and daily lives with glimpses of interiors and unplanned introductions to children, pets and partners. Book sales have soared as we style our bookshelves to present our personal and professional brand to the outside world. Automated or corporate branded backgrounds are an option but can come across as static and bland, particularly when hosting presentations. As virtual meetings become ubiquitous, communications platforms are embracing multi-media tools to become more dynamic, professional and engaging to hold our ever-diminishing attention spans.

Click here to read more about the latest innovations that are using design and technology to transform our home offices into safe, smart and agile spaces as the nature of work evolves.

As a hybrid approach to ways of working comes into focus in the near future, what will be the critical facilities, technologies and innovations to support productivity in the home office and inclusivity in the corporate office? How will the role of the office evolve into a hub for collaboration and well-being?

See the Talk on Youtube here.