Making Remote Work Better With These New Features
Upgraded home offices, with meeting spaces and noise dampening wall coverings, can make remote work more enjoyable.
WASHINGTON – The 25% of the post-pandemic workforce continues to prefer remote or teleworking spaces to commuting into an office, but home offices are going to look different than just a desk in the corner.
Manny Varas, founder and CEO of MV Group, a luxury real-estate developer in Florida, says, "People really want to enjoy their life as they're working, and be able to have that mix of both." In many cases, home offices are transitioning into more personal, collaborative spaces that include video backdrops, wellness features, and other amenities.
Flexible home office space is in demand, with some homeowners looking to have an office or dedicated space for work in more than one location in their home. For example, a home theater could become a meeting space or place for video calls, while an outdoor space could function as an al-fresco office.
Having a dedicated space in more than one room also requires Wi-Fi that can reach outside and throughout the house, flattering lighting for meetings on camera, wall coverings that dampen noise, silently operating fans and furniture that can multitask. For those who need to collaborate in person, some residential spaces could become co-working space or apartment buildings could have dedicated spaces for collaboration.
In larger homes with separated suites for older family members or adult children, those spaces are being repurposed into semi-public home offices where employees can host a business meeting. For home offices, designers also indicate that wellness is a critical component, including home-wide air purification systems, sun-tracking skylights, Wi-Fi-enabled meditation gardens, minifridges for hydration and healthy snacks, desks with ab balls or treadmills instead of chairs, and other features to promote healthy living. Others are turning to virtual views to provide backgrounds in meetings that feel like the outdoors but are relaxing and less distracting than traditional video backgrounds.
Source: Wall Street Journal (03/27/24) Berk, Brett
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