What would a perfect office be like for you?

[wheresmymojo]

I'm taking part in a focus group at my employer next week about how to completely re-work our office space to give us what we would like and need in the post-COVID world.

We all work 2-3 days a week in the office.

Our employer is awesome so we'll be able to put forward pretty much anything we'd like (within reason, probably not a Prosecco fountain).

I want to make sure I represent some specific groups

• Physical disabilities (whether visible or invisible)

• Neurodiverse people (I have ADD but know less about what people with other neurodiversities might want)

• Parents / new(ish) mothers

What would make an awesome office environment for you?

What would be on your wish list?

I don’t love open plan. It encourages everyone to shuffle around in hushed tones which is rather depressing.

Just to start...my own personal ones are:

• Some quiet space where I can work with a laptop plugged in and be away from anyone else to work with no distractions when I need to focus

• A room where new Mums can breastfeed with comfy chairs and privacy

• All meeting rooms to be set up with tech that allows seamless meetings when some people are in the office and others at home (mainly microphones suspended from ceiling and easy to use way of hooking laptop to TV as ours is temperamental)

• Collaborative working spaces that aren't meeting rooms but that have seated areas with digital whiteboards

• Somewhere cosy that I can go and work in peace curled up on a sofa with a coffee

• A jacuzzi or hot-tub to de-stress (we already have gym and treatment rooms on site so this isn't as far fetched as it sounds)

• A crèche on site

• A doggy day care on site or one that picks up/drops off to the office

• Dry cleaning dropped and picked up on site

Oh and fridge in the room for new mums to store expressed breast milk

More meeting rooms with in-built cameras that show everyone in the room for when we're working with overseas teams

A Do Not Disturb zone for when you're trying to concentrate or don't feel like mixing.

Phone call rooms.

No 'stand up' meetings in open plan offices.

Temperature controls that work.

Near home!

Truly private, quiet workspaces. As someone with ASD, working in “public” is next to impossible. I can’t concentrate on my work if I am not alone. That doesn’t mean a quiet corner I can find, that means a private workspace that belongs to me. I don’t want to search for a place to work.

A fragrance free workplace. I have to put this in disability accommodations, but it would be fantastic if it just happened everywhere instead of having to raise a fuss about it.

Drawers. Women still need drawers. Sleek design space really isn’t great when it leaves you no space to stash a box of tampons. I actually had to get on DH about this one because he couldn’t understand why some of his workers wanted drawers for their desks.

Do you hot desk or have designated areas/desks that are 'yours'? We hot desk so having somewhere to store work stuff in a locker near by is important. The ability to set up your work station to suit your needs - raising the desk, designated chairs if you have them set up in a particular way, ability to have multiple screens for working with some software.

Kitchen cleanliness is a bugbear in every workplace I've encountered. Is there a system for running the dishwasher at the end of the day and emptying it the next day, without relying on Sheila from accounts who just always ends up doing it. Adequate recycling, food waste etc facilities. Enough teaspoons!

Secure cycle storage, somewhere to get changed, store often wet cycling clothes, somewhere to shower.

• Some open plan and some more private, quieter spaces.
• plenty of space; a workstation always available no matter how many people come in.
• some lockable personal storage both for your ‘desk contents’ and also personal bits.
• clean with lots of natural light.
• some comfortable seating where working is also possible.
• for new mums- lockable private room discreetly placed for pumping.

In a really idea world:

• a women’s shower & men’s shower so if you are sporty you can have a wash!
• a flexible communal space where you can either have meetings, get togethers or even a yoga class
• little extras like a weekly vegetable box delivery for pre order, classes before/after work or at lunch, eg yoga/tai chi/even a language etc depending on demand!

… I am on maternity leave from an office that’s far less that ideal 😁 xo

Omg crèche on site and doggy daycare = bloody brilliant. If your boss puts that in place I’ll send you my CV 😂

If you hot desk, an online reservation system and a full-time manager to handle problems and reset the workstations between users.

Proper temperature control that works for the whole floor, rather than hot on one side of the building and cold on the other.

I'm really not bothered about all the extras but d prefer not to have to go to work in summer clothes all winter and put a jumper on when you go indoors in summer

Mind would be;

No hot desking. It’s an absolute pain in the arse, I like having my screen and keyboard in particular places, I don’t want to clear up someone else’s chewed biros, scrap paper or used coffee cups. And management never seem to need to do it. And I like my stuff around me. I’m not talking cuddly toys and framed photos but my own stationery and foot rest under the desk. If I’ve got to have things pinned up, I want them where it makes sense to me to look.

I’m not keen on open plan offices. There are always people who need to concentrate and there are always people who sound like Foghorn Leghorn and the two don’t mix. So either a selection of kiosk style desks for those who want them or a quiet work area where people are allowed to throw things at you if you make noise. And if someone wants to listen to music and has decent headphones that don’t leak their noise, (and it obviously doesn’t interfere with their job) it would be nice if they could do. And that way, you can have a lockable pedestal to keep your personal bits in.

I like plants. Lots of plants. I don’t care if they’re artificial or real. Anything that makes it look less like a call centre.

Really nice chairs. Not the sort that make your bum go numb after two hours or tip you forward, but really comfortable.

Coat stands. Especially in the winter.

A complete ban on anyone using any phrases like ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’. No blue skies. No envelope pushing and no running anything up a flag pole. If anyone says it, they have to go and stand outside and think about what they’ve done.

I like a bench. Not a smokers bench but somewhere I can get some fresh air for five minutes during the day if I need to, without sitting in cigarette ash or having someone blowing smoke over my sandwich.

I’d like either a tuck shop or a reasonably priced vending machine. And decent hot drink facilities. I don’t really want to sit on sofa style seating but comfy chairs would again be great. And newspapers.

An on site doggy day care would be the stuff of absolute dreams.

Soundproof individual pods or offices. I find it really hard to work with background noise...why do some people have such strong voices!

Different types of pods- some for individuals, some for twos or fours. Soundproofed with plugs for phones or laptops.
All meeting rooms to be fully fitted out for tech. No point having only one room with video capability- just means everyone is booking that one.

Easy booking systems for meeting rooms and equipment, that can be used by all and not funneled through another person to book.

Decent sized locker. One company I was at had a few lockers in the bathrooms which meant I could keep my gym/shower stuff there instead of having it on display at my desk or carting it in and out each day.

Showers with individual change/dry area so your clothes don't get dragged through shower water when getting dressed. Extra plugs in bathrooms with mirrors for hairdryers, straighteners etc

An iron& ironing board

Secure bike storage

A general understanding that different roles work in different ways so their requirements will be different. We had a hybrid hotdesking approach with 75/25 split and the different groups got different things to enable them.

Consideration of desk placement in relation to air conditioning units and main thoroughfares.

Privacy screens for monitors.

One office I worked in had a cafe which was manned all day by an in house barista, making free coffees. It was a hotdesking environment, so whenever I needed a change of scene I would just spend the afternoon in the cafe on my laptop drinking lattes.

Wow your office sounds amazing already.

The best thing in our office were the booths - they were built with noise reduction in mind so that you could have a quiet discussion but it was v informal.

A good coffee machine

@sjxoxo

- Some open plan and some more private, quieter spaces.

• plenty of space; a workstation always available no matter how many people come in.
• some lockable personal storage both for your ‘desk contents’ and also personal bits.
• clean with lots of natural light.
• some comfortable seating where working is also possible.
• for new mums- lockable private room discreetly placed for pumping.

In a really idea world:

• a women’s shower & men’s shower so if you are sporty you can have a wash!
• a flexible communal space where you can either have meetings, get togethers or even a yoga class
• little extras like a weekly vegetable box delivery for pre order, classes before/after work or at lunch, eg yoga/tai chi/even a language etc depending on demand!

… I am on maternity leave from an office that’s far less that ideal 😁 xo

We have showers and free fitness classes before work, at lunch and after work ✅

We also have treatment rooms for nails, beauty, massage and reflexology (not free but a good price) ✅

@DriftingBlue

If you hot desk, an online reservation system and a full-time manager to handle problems and reset the workstations between users.

We have an online reservation system ✅

TBH we have tonnes of seating so there's never any competition

@givemushypeasachance

Do you hot desk or have designated areas/desks that are 'yours'? We hot desk so having somewhere to store work stuff in a locker near by is important. The ability to set up your work station to suit your needs - raising the desk, designated chairs if you have them set up in a particular way, ability to have multiple screens for working with some software.

Kitchen cleanliness is a bugbear in every workplace I've encountered. Is there a system for running the dishwasher at the end of the day and emptying it the next day, without relying on Sheila from accounts who just always ends up doing it. Adequate recycling, food waste etc facilities. Enough teaspoons!

Secure cycle storage, somewhere to get changed, store often wet cycling clothes, somewhere to shower.

For kitchen cleanliness we already have cleaners on site all day who do multiple cleans per day so it's always clean ✅

yy to the pp about showers for the sporty types. Also secure bicycle storage, and somewhere to store outdoor gear when it's soaking wet - even it's just a coat rack, it's good to have an alternative to hanging your sodden coat over the back of your chair. I suppose that also supports the need for personal storage (at your desk or elsewhere) - I used to keep a spare pair of shoes in the office for days I got drenched on my way in, I've got nowhere to keep those now :(

Re drawers at desks for tampons etc... when we moved to hot desking and "sleek" desks with no storage they did provide some storage in the ladies loos, so that helped. One drawer labelled "for general use" and the other "personal supplies" so you could keep yours there but use the general ones if you were caught short.

@violetbunny

One office I worked in had a cafe which was manned all day by an in house barista, making free coffees. It was a hotdesking environment, so whenever I needed a change of scene I would just spend the afternoon in the cafe on my laptop drinking lattes.

Yep, we have that.

Coffee and pastries available all day. Lovely menu of subsidised breakfasts and lunches.

They do 'special' days all through the year too - so a couple of times in summer they set up a full BBQ and ice cream parlour outside, we had 'Oktoberfest', special free Indian sweets for Divali, etc.

From this definitely taking...

Soundproof pods / quiet area

Lockers

Coat stands

I will check out the showering situation - I don't use them so not sure what they're like

No hot desking. Own desk with drawers and shelves (I still use books and files to some extent). Own chair. Pegs for coats and space for bags.

Shared office spaces so you're never on your own for long, I can't work in silence and need people around me, a bit of background conversation, people coming and going.

Decent size kitchen / eating area, clean, with dishwasher and enough crockery and cutlery. Tea and coffee making facilities. Outside seating. Bike storage. Showers.

I wouldn't be interested in extras such as creche (even when I did have young children I wouldn't have used a workplace setting), gym classes, hot tub, dry cleaning etc.