Why London Offices Need a Touch of Hygge
Adil Sheikh, Managing Director at modular workspace provider, MuteBox.
London has some of the best corporate buildings in the world. The Shard, The Gherkin, The Cheesegrater and so on, all pierce London’s skyline to create an image that’s iconic and inspiring in equal measure.
But how about London’s offices? Are they as well received as some of the buildings they’re found in? Well, apparently not. Some 50% of UK workers are positively uninspired by their working environments – which is problematic for several reasons.
We will spend approximately 90,000 hours of our lives working, and supposing you come into the office 3 days a week on average, you could be in for 60,000 hours of working in an environment you don’t really like. Drab offices stifle creativity and happiness, which as you might expect does little to help with productivity.
What’s more, for companies encouraging workers to return to the office, a working environment less inviting than one’s home office can make this a rather tough sell. Add to this picture Labour’s 2024 Employment Rights Bill, which grants employees greater flex with respect to WFH, and you can see why more needs to be done to incentivise higher footfall into company offices.
In addition, landlords are also finding it hard to entice companies into renting their commercial buildings for office use. Post-pandemic, close to 10% of office space in London is unoccupied, a figure that sat at only 4% before the virus accelerated a shift towards hybrid working patterns and fully remote roles. The trouble here is that some companies are not that convinced that a dedicated office space is worth the investment with so many workers now choosing to WFH or come in once a week at most. Also, many may remain unconvinced following the uprated employer NI contributions outlined in the Autumn Statement, which has forced companies to think carefully about every penny spent, including those on office real estate.
That being said, facilities managers and landlords can make commercial buildings more attractive to both employees and companies seeking office spaces and bolster the health and happiness of workers by embracing the Danish concept of Hygge (pronounced hoo-gah). For example, recent research has indicated a 33% increase in employee happiness following improvements to office design.
At its core, Hygge is a cozy, contented vibe associated with warmth, wellbeing and happiness. Think sinking into an armchair, candlelit reading and a hot cup of cocoa. While sipping cocoa in an armchair probably isn’t part of your JD, there is much that can be done to bring that same cozy feel to the workplace – and boost office attendance as well as happiness and productivity as a result.
Traditional office lighting can be harsh, clinical and less than relaxing. Opting for softer, warmer lighting can go a long way in bringing a calming atmosphere to desks and meeting rooms and help create a sense of homeliness in the workplace. Another simple way to encourage contentment within the workplace is to incorporate more biophilic elements, including plants and natural materials like wooden desks and woollen throws.
Open plan offices, which have become increasingly popular, can sometimes come with challenges in concentration, especially as a cacophony of calls can very easily descend upon workers post-pandemic. Indeed, Zoom reported asubstantial increase in business customers following the imposition of Covid restrictions, rising from about 80,000 in 2019 to 470,00 in 2020 – and since then numerous, sometimes simultaneous, Zoom, Teams, and Slack calls punctuate (and occasionally interfere with) our working day. As such, introducing quiet areas or quiet meeting pods for focused work and calls can mute distracting noises, reduce stress and is another sure-fire way to add a dash of Hygge into your office.
Finally, welcoming personal touches such as artwork, books, handcrafted stationary and even minimalist clocks can transform a sterile working environment into something that feels more curated, mindful and productive. The inclusion of these small but intentional additions helps foster a sense of ownership and personality in the workplace, contributing to a more engaging and enjoyable daily working environment.
Our ways of working have changed dramatically in the last few years. Although more employees are heading back into the office, more still needs to be done to create workspaces that compete with the luxuries afforded to them when working from home. But by injecting a large dose of Hygge into their offices and commercial buildings, facilities managers and landlords can respectively go a long way in making this happen.
