Workplace storage solutions for Agile working

The pandemic changed all of our lives in so many ways. One aspect of life where its lasting effect has been truly profound has been upon the world of work.

Pre-pandemic, many of us commuted, working in office settings, doing strict 9-5 desk jobs. When the government mandated the ‘working from home’ policy, the limitations instigated on our working lives were profound.

Many workplaces that may never have taken the leap to allow their employees to work outside of a closely inspected office environment were forced to do just this. These sort of workplaces suffered the most profoundly from the initial lockdown, as they found they suddenly had to make staff’s work available to them from home. If they weren’t furloughing staff, they had to invest in software and tech to enable their business to function remotely, be that uploading files and software to the Cloud for remote access or investing in laptops for their employees so they could perform their tasks from home.

The outcome of this drastic change to the traditional world of work? Most employers realised that their workforce were more dedicated and efficient than perhaps they had thought. Employee productivity in general was boosted ( 13%, in this study ) by working from home, despite the stressors the pandemic caused.

Many employers have therefore felt confident in allowing a more flexible working routine as they came out of the pandemic, be that allowing more flexible working hours or enabling staff to work from home for some, or all days of the week. Many employees have now become untethered from the office environment, and work more flexible hours in more flexible locations.

This blog post looks into the phenomenon of Agile working, and how optimal storage solutions can completely revamp your office from old-school to Agile-friendly.

Agile working is the definition for a style of work which fits the type of work you need to do with your environment. It also takes into account personal working styles. The Agile organisation defines it as:

“Bringing people, processes, connectivity and technology, time and pace together to find the most appropriate and effective way of working to carry out a particular task. It is working within guidelines (of the task) but without boundaries (of how you achieve it).”

Here’s an example of how an Agile workplace might function on a day to day basis. An Agile workplace will support the marketing team’s noisy brain storm in an informal, social space, provide a quiet, desk-based corner for the accountant’s focussed afternoon task, a private and tech-linked meeting room for the management to take client calls and a sofa space to allow someone under the weather a more comfortable environment in which to read their new task sheet.

The idea is that working behind an assigned desk for every task, all day everyday, is just not the best way to keep everyone happy and productive.

As well as switching up the environment to best suit the task, Agile working allows employees the flexibility to fit the working day to their strengths, too. Some are most productive earlier in the morning and tail off into the afternoon, whereas some are night owls who function much better with a late morning and later evening. The parents might benefit from an hour to do pick up in the afternoon, and the runner might appreciate a two hour lunch break. Agile working allows the worker to fit their work into their life, which in turn makes them more positive and more productive employees.

Another real benefit to Agile working is that workplaces themselves are physically much more flexible, allowing a company to take on staff much more freely. Where a formal desk-based work environment relies on you having the space for the adequate number of desks for the staff you’ve hired, Agile working allows a much more flexible use of space.

Let’s look at an Agile workplace at play for a company with a workforce of twenty, say. In a traditional setup, this would require 20 formal individual desk spaces. As well as these, there would most likely be a kitchen, meeting rooms, and break-out/social space.

An Agile space meanwhile can function much more flexibly. Let’s look at an average Agile day:

- Of your twenty staff, perhaps four have chosen to work from home.

- The CEO, two management staff and HR are in an onboarding meeting - so four of them are in meeting space.

- Four staff prefer formal working so have settled at desks.

- Three staff are brainstorming for a new client, so are at the break out space in the kitchen so they can have a lively conversation.

- Someone is going over important legal documentation so is in a quiet corner.

- One is taking a long lunch and working later.

- One is a parent taking a 30 minute lunch so they can leave earlier.

- One feels under the weather and just needs to read a client report this afternoon so is on the comfy sofas.

You can see that in this example you only need four formal desk spaces! The other working environments, such as the kitchen and meeting space, were all likely present in the traditional working environment, but have just been ‘work-proofed’ to enable them to be utilised as Agile working environments.

The one draw back to Agile working? The ‘workplace’ needs to be mobile, as employees won’t have their own assigned workstations. In practice this means providing accessible desktop computers that any employee can access in a variety of locations, or more likely, providing each staff member with a laptop, plus individual mouse and keyboard (or any further accoutrements they need for their day-to-day work tasks). They also need somewhere to put their personal items (perhaps gym kit, or their packed lunch, for example) as they no longer have their own personal desk station. This is where storage solutions are crucial.

In reality, most offices need little more than a rejig to allow spaces like sofa areas, kitchens and meeting rooms to be utilised as daily work spaces.

To enable Agile working and provide workspaces to appeal to most activity-based tasks, it’s worth considering the provision of as many of these areas as possible:

- A confidential and private meeting room/area

- A quiet corner for focussed work.

- A social corner or break out area for brainstorming and collaborative projects.

- A comfortable, informal area.

- A more traditional desk-based area.

Whilst most office spaces will already have needed all of these spaces, and have thus already invested in them, you might need a little further investment in making them ‘work-proof’. This might amount to making plugs available for laptop chargers, for example, providing ‘free to use’ desktops in a variety of areas, and creating seating for work in areas like the kitchen where you might not have had the provision before.

Agile workplaces do generally require an investment in some tech solutions as well, as those working remotely need to be easily integrated to the team, and those working in whatever corner of the office need WiFi connection as well as power. It also requires an investment in storage solutions .

Instead of individual desk stations, a bank of lockers by the office entrance for example allows employees to store their individual keyboard, mouse and laptop when they go home, and leave their personal items so they aren’t cluttering up the communal workspace during the working day.

The specific kit requirements of your field of work will often have an impact on what sort of storage requirements are best for your business and staff. You’ll also want to look into how you expect staff to use these storage solutions. If it’s just a place for them to safely store their wet coat and umbrella when they arrive, and their mouse and keyboard when they leave after a day’s work, say, you may only need smaller lockers. If you expect a completely minimal work environment, without any personal ‘clutter’ such as lunch boxes, gym kit, coats, or handbags, or if you work in a niche which requires a uniform, or more personalised tech (personal laptops and stands, for example), perhaps you will need to invest in bigger private storage solutions for your employees, to enable them to comfortably and adequately store their personal items.
Racking and Shelving Limited are the experts in commercial racking, shelving and storage solutions. If your workplace is moving towards an Agile set up and you would like to invest in the appropriate storage solutions for your needs, get in touch with RSL NI today to see how we can help.