The panorama of the office and design world is constantly evolving; new needs arise and consequently also innovations. So, on the horizon we can glimpse different office spaces that are constantly changing.
Color, natural light, comfortable office furniture, centralization of the individual: these are the new key words of companies in step with the modern era.
We are only at the beginning of 2024 and in the offices the creation of spaces dedicated to collaboration and shared creativity becomes a priority: relaxation areas and open spaces with specific furniture: height-adjustable tables, ergonomic chairs, sound-absorbing panels to minimize noise pollution, glass partition walls, sofas and armchairs. At the same time, there is no shortage of quiet and peaceful environments in which you can concentrate in silence with equipped workstations and comfortable chairs.

The colors of the walls, furnishings and objects often also help to improve work balance and attention. The color of the year for interior furniture is Peach Fuzz, a warm shade between pink and orange that reflects the desire for well-being, integration and sharing. It is the ideal color for work environments that promote both socialization and concentration.
This year, in fact, the trend is to make the working environment a pleasant place where to get inspired. Here then the colour, lighting, temperature and finishes of the furniture take on considerable importance.

Equally important is the creation of versatile layouts, which offer modular solutions, allowing you to customize the places according to your needs. The larger companies, which do not have space problems, are creating areas dedicated to the needs of workers: after-school activities, babysitting services, nurseries, gyms, relaxation areas and much more.
The individual is totally at the center of the work space which revolves around his needs. In fact, for the modern company it is essential not only to attract talents who can create productivity, but also to retain them. For this reason, it is essential to ensure a positive corporate climate, where people can feel satisfied and safe, a place that allows them to grow professionally, also through courses aimed at training and specializing each individual.

Here we are, lined up towards our workstations. Flippers and goggles remain in the summer photos leaving room for backpacks, PCs, meetings and school routine. Let’s put on the clothes of transformative workers, parents, athletes, passionate creative talents and viveurs again. In this carousel of duties, commitments and responsibilities, our professional identity often coincides with our personal one and the reason is simple: we spend a lot of time at work which outlines and enhances our personal effectiveness but above all it is (Spoiler Alert!) A TOOL for live and support ourselves.

In addition to healthy snacks and headphones, we carry in our backpack the biases of capitalist society according to which it is difficult to dissociate the concept of work from that of productivity and sacrifice to replace it with that of work-rest-greater efficiency. Yet this is one of the purposes of Trainect Wellbeing which could be imagined as courageous as the “Liberty leading the people” by Delacroix in spreading the psychology and culture of well-being; on this example, the international management consultancy firm Mckinsey & Company has provided a report on company costs, claiming how much a rested employee can perform better, also ironically stating that “he who sleeps catches fish and acquires leadership”. A gamble? Or a non-sighted vision of how rest, especially at work with flexible hours, can be the turning point for a decidedly healthier and more sustainable work life balance?

This is confirmed by data from the National Institute of Health, which has estimated that in Italy the sleep deficit causes companies to lose productivity by up to 5 billion euros per year, a percentage that corresponds to 0.5% of GDP.

So how can we redeem the culture of rest without being considered lazy? In a preventive and continuous manner: “make sure to rest, before you really need to”, working by priority, allowing employees to work from home, increasing breaks, trying to adopt solutions such as “power nap or nap room” to encourage rest, preferably between 1pm and 3pm and lasting between 20 and 30 minutes. In fact, it has been demonstrated that the power-nap can constitute a sort of energy booster, improving the activities of the right hemisphere and creativity.

As a counterbalance to this context, workaholism, the concept of life centred on work, burn out and consequently moving like drunken tightrope walkers between work, passions and duties creeps in, giving rise to multitasking stuntmen. This term derives from information technology, but we are not laptops, we do not work, we are not machines, we do not produce; intentionality, thinking, choosing, deciding is what characterises us. Working in “urgency” is a trap, an illusion, not everything can be urgent, not everything can be a priority. Prioritizing makes you more aware and improves efficiency, however, this is possible when there is an underlying culture of corporate well-being. The company is not a generic entity but a sum of individuals, therefore CEOs, owners and managers must apply the “People centre” lens. The true transformation will only happen by putting people and their needs at the centre, understanding the emotional resonance that the right work pace has in their lives.

Thus, we arrive at awareness and mea culpas: we are always ready to accept English neologisms to make any initiative more sophisticated and attractive, but let us prove ourselves equally welcoming towards those initiatives that might seem strange, but perhaps necessary, let us try to welcome “courageous” solutions which characterise leading companies such as Google, Zappos, Cisco, P&G. Let’s start with small businesses because inspiration from certain working archetypes makes all the difference in the world.

Let’s restore priorities: treating work as A TOOL to buy free time, working with and for people who have full knowledge of this truth is the new revolution of which Delacroix would make a banner and perhaps he would paint that Liberty that runs hastily more relaxed.

The English expression “Busy as a bee” is interesting. Honestly, bees have always been unpleasant to me, however I recognise them as the founders of teamwork, organisation and focus on goals. We borrow these principles from them, because good choral work makes us less busy but more present and active in our human ecosystem.

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Marika Lupi

We have spent the last two years without being able to use what has always been the nerve center of an office: the meeting room. The room in which relationships are built with the team, customers or business partners, the room that frames important decisions for the company and serves as a business card, along with the reception.

Now that activities are resuming the regular course, even the meeting room is once again an important and necessary place for the office. Of course, however, the measures to be adopted have changed, we already notice this from what we see through the mass media. Meetings of political leaders, take place on precious tables but of considerable size so as to maintain important distances between the participants, impressive tables and comfortable chairs so as not to divert attention from the discussion. This is also reflected in small and large enterprises.

Meetings have always been a crucial moment for the activities of companies and they are returning strongly to be so, for this reason the meeting room should always be taken care of in every detail. Furniture through shapes and colors should have a positive effect on people.

Let’s see what are the basic elements to furnish a modern meeting room:

–  The table is the main element around which business strategies revolve. The dimensions depend on the measurements of the environment in which it will be placed. One of the new trends is the spacious table, which can allow people to be far apart from each other. It is usually placed in the middle of the room.
Other important aspects to consider for the table are: the power sources (often you connect to a computer, smartphone, and so on), the design, the materials and the finishes (there are for all styles, in wood, glass, laminate, leather, and so on) and the shape (rectangular, square, circular).

–  The chairs, must be comfortable, so that the attention does not shift to the spasmodic search for a comfortable position

– Low storage cabinets for storing meeting materials

–  Furnishing accessories, which can enhance the environment and at the same time make it more comfortable. Among these the sound-absorbing panels, now available in colors and shapes of great design, which therefore combine the acoustic and decorative function; the technical office curtains for office, so that you can modulate the light when using screens and of course accessories such as coat hangers, umbrella stands, pen holders, baskets and so on.

The meeting room must therefore ensure maximum comfort, stimulate concentration and productivity, put people at ease.