The benefits of incorporating 'home comforts' into your office design

As hybrid working models become more common across businesses, and many employees return to the office full-time post-COVID-19, a new trend for office design is emerging. This trend seeks to incorporate homely elements into office spaces, with the goal of promoting a healthy work-life balance and boosting employee satisfaction. The trend recognizes the importance of creating comfortable and inviting work environments that can help reduce stress and enhance productivity. 

In this article, we will be exploring some innovative ways to incorporate home comforts into the design of your office, and the key benefits of doing so, both for your employees, and business.

The rise of ‘Resimercial’ design

Resimercial workplace design is an industry buzzword used to describe office spaces that encompass an amalgamation of home comforts and functionality. 

Combining the principles of commercial and residential design, resimercial design often uses elements such as soft furnishing solutions, indoor plants, and warmer lighting to create a more inviting atmosphere in line with contemporary commercial interior design trends.

Ways you can incorporate home comforts into your office design

In order to successfully strike a balance between homeliness and professionalism, your workplace should no longer be a place employees have to be, it should be a place they want to be. There are two key ways you can achieve this: 

Focus on comfort

The key to making your office feel more like home is to create a comfortable, welcoming, and human-centred space.

Given that people spend the majority of their waking hours in the office, it is not surprising that office workers ranked “having an office that is comfortable to work in” as the most highly valued workstation attribute in various surveys.

Your office space should promote physical and mental comfort for employees, which can be achieved through the use of:

• Biophilic elements: Indoor plants and natural lighting are a great way to increase the comfort of your office space. Indoor plants can help improve air quality, which has been found to reduce sickness-related absences in the workplace. Biophilic design has also been found to improve mental well-being as well as physical well-being, with one study finding that the presence of plants in offices can lower stress and anxiety levels by up to 37%, as well as decrease tiredness by up to 38%.
• Soft furnishings: Soft furnishings in areas such as break-out rooms, receptions and meeting rooms are a perfect way to add comfort to your office space. For example, Haiken’s modular Daaz sofa offers practicality, as well as comfort. With a minimalist design and the possibility of length adjustment to suit individual needs, this seating offers a perfect resimercial solution for your office space.
• Ergonomic seating and desks: Ergonomic office chairs and desks will not only ensure employees remain focused and productive, but also they can prevent back pain, fatigue, and discomfort. In fact, several studieshave shown that choosing office furniture that is both ergonomically designed and comfortable can have a major impact on employees’ happiness as well as their productivity. Our Webb 2.0 task chairs are an all-time favourite thanks to their excellent ergonomic design that is both supportive and comfortable with a seat slide, a 6-position lockable backrest, and 3D armrests.

Focus on lifestyle and diversity

Recent research demonstrates a simple, yet important fact:  happy employees are more productive. Because of this, many organisations are creating office cultures and spaces that inspire and motivate employees to be productive, through more diverse and inclusive design elements.

Inclusive office design aims to provide choice, flexibility and practicality while ensuring that all employees are made to feel comfortable and welcome in their workplace. What feels homely to one person may be very different for another, so designing a workplace that is inclusive of all lifestyles is extremely important. A few ways this can be achieved include:

Accessible design:

• Sensor activated doors
• Height-adjustable desks
• Ergonomic task seating
• Ramps or Lifts
• Handles with closed-fist policy
• Using two passing wheelchairs to measure passages
• Multi-height storage
• Power at non-fixed heights
• Free-stand laptop tables
• Tables with centred legs 

Neurodiverse design:

• Meditation spaces
• Break-rooms
• Recreation spaces
• Biophilic elements 

Human-centred design:

• Breast-feeding rooms
• Gender-neutral toilets

The benefits of incorporating home comforts into your office design

If you delve beyond the superficial aesthetic benefits of resimercial design, there are actually numerous advantages to adopting a more relaxed workspace design scheme that incorporates home comforts. 

Improved health and wellbeing

Incorporating home comforts into your office design can have a wealth of benefits for the health and well-being of your employees. Comfortable furniture, natural or warm lighting, and inclusive design elements have not only been proven to reduce sickness, and physical ailments such as back pain; but have also been shown to promote better mental well-being. 

Increased collaboration and employee interaction

Additionally, the incorporation of resimercial elements in areas such as cafes, social spaces, and breakout areas can create a neutral ground for communication, where employees can interact without feeling intimidated by a more formal setting or professional hierarchy. This can help boost productivity and create a space where employees look forward to working.

Employee and client retention

Moreover, incorporating more homely design elements can help attract and retain new talent and clients, particularly millennials who prioritize integration between their professional and personal lives. By blurring the lines between work and home, a "third space" is created where employees can operate more casually and laid back when necessary.

Create your resimercial office space with Haiken today

Whether planning to have an entire office refurbishment or simply just need to make some minor improvements, it’s important to remember that the office reflects the company’s image, as well as having a big influence on employee productivity and well-being. 

At Haiken, we have the expertise to ensure that you can create an outstanding office design built to last. Contact our friendly furniture team today to find out more.