by Gillian Morris

With summer behind us and flu season fast approaching, it’s time to consider how to manage sickness in the workplace. We’ve all been there: going into work with a massive cold or flu, medicated to the nth degree, to prove our mettle as a tough employee.

Unfortunately, appearing “tough” to your coworkers is the only benefit of working sick. Coming to work sick just makes other people sick, which significantly reduces workplace productivity and ultimately costs businesses money.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, paid sick days seem to be the best solution to the problem of “contagious presenteeism,” or what the NBER calls showing up to work with an illness. When workers have paid sick leave, they are less likely to practice contagious presenteeism and more likely to stay home, which keeps workplaces healthier.
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For a great summary of the NBER working paper, check out the Dallas Morning News.

Multiple healthcare experts are warning against the seemingly ubiquitous treats in offices across the United States.

​"Cake Culture" is, as Michael Grothaus describes in his Fast Company article "5 Ways Employers Can Help Employees Fight Fat at Work":

Most of us are very familiar with cake culture and some of us even perpetuate it (myself included)! How can we break this association between workplace rewards and junk food while maintaining a positive, rewarding work environment? One solution that Grothaus suggests is the use of gift cards as a substitute for food rewards. Although gift cards sound expensive, they cost approximately the same as a box of donuts, maybe even less. A $5 Amazon gift card, for example, is significantly less expensive than coffee and donuts for 10-15 people.

​Grothaus' article discusses a few other solutions, too. Read more here.

Historically, modular furniture has earned a negative reputation through its association with the notorious cubicle. Today's modular furniture options are sleeker, more open, customizable, and more conducive to a flexible office environment.

​One of our favorite modular furniture options is the Connect It series of products by Office Furniture Distributors, a local Dallas area vendor based in Carrollton, TX. Need to change a layout, add a desk, increase your storage, or remove a divider panel? Connect It makes all of these tasks flexible, affordable and easy.

Easiest way to make your space more flexible? Put casters on your furniture! This enhanced mobility allows you to easily move furniture to different areas of an office depending on the varying needs of the day. On-the-go layout change is exactly what many businesses are looking for when enhancing their space's flexibility.

​We love Wisconsin-based PS Furniture's Snap™ portable tables for this very reason: they are light, durable, mobile, and folding for easy storage. Can't get much more flexible than that!

Breakout areas are the conference rooms of the flexible office. Breakout areas are great for a few reasons: 1) they naturally segment open plan spaces into areas with discrete functions, 2) they are often easy to erect and easy to move (a la casters!) and 3) they seemingly materialize collaboration and creativity among employees by providing all of the amenities of a conference room space without the aloof formality of slick leather seating.

Mayline, another one of our Wisconsin-based vendors, has a fantastic product for such areas called Keep. Keep is a modular system that allows clients to customize their breakout areas with fold-out tables, media options, whiteboards, walls, storage, and much more. We love working with Mayline and we're very excited to use their Keep collection in some of our client's breakout areas.

Whiteboards are a stand-in image of collaboration and are also extremely effective at enabling workplaces to become more flexible. Strategically placing whiteboards on the few walls in an open-plan space makes every wall an opportunity for collaboration, meetings, or instant breakout sessions.

​Our favorite markerboards are glass. The one shown above is made by Ghent and comes in a variety of colors and customizable options. Glass is a sharp-looking alternative to traditional whiteboards that can double as a projection surface or display area without appearing cheap or out-of-place.

We love using color in our client's spaces. Many companies have been utilizing color as a way to code various areas according to function or activity. This makes for very flexible offices as modifying the function of an area or its activities is as easy as changing the color.

Commercial design has never felt so much like home.

​Businesses are increasingly turning to elements of residential interior design to transform their offices into comfortable home-away-from-homes for their employees. This trend has affected most aspects of the workplace and has contributed to a wholesale transformation of today's corporate culture.

Why do so many businesses want their workplaces to feel like an extension of their employees' homes? Well, for starters, Millennials. Millennials now make up the largest share of the American workforce (34%) and are projected to grow to almost 50% by 2020. Unsurprisingly, companies have begun to adapt to the distinct values and needs of this growing workforce. And what do millennials value most of all? Work/life balance. ​

​For millennials, the gold standard of work/life balance is the home office. Working remotely allows for flexibility in schedule and location, giving millennials the opportunity to prioritize travel or family life in conjunction with their work. But this work arrangement, although becoming more common, is still relatively hard to find, so millennials often look for jobs that offer the same benefits of working from home, at the office.

If employees must engage in a more traditional office, they want their spaces to reflect this culture of work/life balance. Companies are increasingly turning to commercial interior designers and furniture manufacturers to create home-away-from-home environments for their employees and attracting and retaining workers is increasingly dependent on office design.

So, what makes an office feel like home?

Are companies successfully creating "homey" environments for their millennial workers? They certainly are trying. But one thing is for sure: Home is where the heart is, but with more residential design elements, the office may not be far behind.