India Inc's making offices as comfortable as homes

As corporates start to bring employees back to offices, many offices are sporting a new design, not just in terms of safety and hygiene to protect against Covid-19 but also in offering new facilities to, let's say, make people feel at home.

The upgraded facilities include spaces for unscheduled catchups, recreational areas, gaming zones, and even swing chairs as comfort-based work has become a top preference post pandemic, interior designers and company executives said.

Information technology (IT) research and consultancy company Gartner, for example, has invested heavily on the interiors of its 300,000 sq ft office in DLF's cyber park in Gurgaon where collaboration and social spaces are given great importance.

"Our new office, which is our biggest in the world, has been designed keeping the future need in mind," said Anna Jacklin, vice-president, APAC, real estate operations, at Gartner. "Covid-19 has changed a lot, and employees now look for comfort in office. Within the office, we ensure we get natural lights and clean air beside having recreational facilities across the four floors," she said. Rachel Serrao, head of design at Space Matrix that designed the Gartner office, said, "The office is high on experience - recreation is given serious thought and there are ample opportunities on each floor for employees to amuse and entertain themselves. Each level has a recreation zone - all featuring a different activity that people can enjoy." She said Space Matrix is receiving similar requests from other clients.

The pandemic has forced corporates to reimagine workplaces as their employees have been working from home without any dip in productivity for two years now. And, as they start to get employees back to offices, they want to make sure people are happy about that.

"To cater to ever-evolving user requirements, we focus on creating workspaces that are open and egalitarian, promote collaboration, and facilitate communication and knowledge exchange," said Ravi Sarangan, founder and director at Edifice Consultants. Most workspaces are now shifting from the paradigms of restrictive cubicles to open layouts that facilitate more interaction.