Office furniture in the era of hybrid working

New Zealand is slowly but surely returning to the office. Though there’s no longer any lockdowns on the horizon, we’re still living with Covid-19 in the community — and with this in mind, many businesses across the country have pivoted to a hybrid working model.

With such a widespread shift — from full-time in-office before the pandemic, full-time remote working during lockdowns, and now a mix of the two — businesses now need to consider how to set up their offices to best suit the hybrid working environment.

The importance of the look and feel of an office cannot be overstated: the colours, lighting, layout — all contribute to the mood and feelings evoked while employees are at work, which in turn affects productivity. One component of the look and feel of an office stands out in terms of significance though — the office furnishings.

“If you want people to make the effort to come into the office after they’ve been nice and comfy at home, you’ve got to make sure it's a pleasant, functional space,” says Mark Redshaw from Commercial Traders.

Commercial Traders is a New Zealand-owned and operated business specialising in office furnishings for small to medium sized offices. Based in Onehunga, the company has been selling office furniture in Auckland for over three decades.

Mark says part of the company’s success is attributed to its ability to navigate the changing needs and styles of commercial offices in New Zealand — and the shift towards hybrid working is yet another change that Commercial Traders is ready for.

So what are the kinds of furnishings that suit hybrid working — and how can Commercial Traders help?

Hot desking, while not a new concept by any means, is seeing a considerable rise in uptake as a result of the growing number of hybrid environments. In offices with a larger workforce, the logistics of who comes into the office on what days of the week can get complicated — so hot desking is a natural solution.

“Pod-style desks are great for this situation, and that’s something that we’ve got a large selection of,” says Mark. “They foster a sense of community and togetherness, and they’re great as a cost-effective hybrid option.”

Desks should also have easy and ample access to power outlets, and for even greater versatility, height adjustable and standing desks can be introduced to suit a larger pool of people in a hot desking situation.

Aside from the workstations themselves, Mark says Commercial Traders has also seen an uptick in demand for better functioning meeting and breakout spaces.

“Now that people are splitting time between home and the office, we’re finding people like to have their larger meetings in person rather than on Zoom,” says Mark. “So we’re seeing offices starting to have larger, dedicated breakout and meeting spaces to accommodate for this.”

Commercial Traders offers a number of products that suit this appetite for larger meetings — like its modular meeting table, which can be easily adjusted to cater for the size of meeting rooms or the number of people it needs to accommodate.

Since fewer people are spending their entire work week in the office, and in part because of the common practice of hot desking, Mark says many people request the option to store belongings that they want to keep in the office without cluttering any hot desks.

“Functional, good looking lockers are becoming more sought after because of this,” says Mark. “And we have options for digital combination locks, different sizes. That’s a popular one.”

And this is not even to mention the soft furnishing — sofas, dining chairs, seats for breakout spaces. “A lot of these are also modular or customisable, and a lot are New Zealand made,” says Mark.

“It’s really all about providing these offices with versatility — especially during a time where we’re all navigating an unprecedented shift in how we work.

“It can often be quite tough to navigate, but of course we’re here to help.”

Learn more about Commercial Traders and its offerings.