As a company, Empire is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and doing what we can to create a better world for generations to come.
We have seen client requests for sustainable products dramatically increase in recent years, and our brand partners are also heeding the call. This June at Neocon, sustainability stories were front and center, and the new buzzword in every showroom: circular economy.
Steelcase started with its most popular work chairs, Steelcase Series™ 1, certifying it as a CarbonNeutral® product in 2022. As of July 2023, Steelcase’s portfolio of high-performance chairs including Steelcase Karman, Gesture, Leap, Think, Amia, Steelcase Series 2 and Steelcase Series 1 are available with a CarbonNeutral® product certification to help businesses achieve their climate commitments.
In 2022, Humanscale became the first and only furniture manufacturer to be awarded TRUE® Gold and Silver certifications for all factories globally. TRUE® stands for Total Resource Use and Efficiency and is administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) to help facilities define, pursue, and achieve zero waste goals while becoming more resource efficient. Additionally, 26 products from Humanscale’s portfolio have been certified net positive.
The retreeve Tables Collection from BOLD Furniture includes innovative, sustainable statement pieces that champion a circular economy and environmental responsibility. Displaying striking butcherblock surfaces, the retreeve Tables Collection is resourcefully crafted from recycled solid wood, MDF, particle board, and plywood, all recovered from BOLD Furniture’s own manufacturing scraps. This direct reuse of industrial materials in the table designs not only reduces waste but also supports a circular economy, minimizing the environmental impact of the manufacturing process.
Andreu World is the first company in the world with a complete 100% FSC offering and the first European manufacturer to achieve LEVEL® certification. They have developed their own fabrics from plastic PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and textile waste and are committed to achieving 100% of materials and processes in the circular economy by 2025.
Just like in many other industries, sustainably made products, responsibly sourced materials, and zero-waste are top of mind topics for companies as they plan and design their workspaces. As sustainability and circular economy principles gain traction, there is a growing emphasis on extending the lifespan of office furniture through refurbishment, reallocation, and reuse.
According to a recent report from Deloitte, about half of Gen Zs and millennials are pressuring businesses to act on climate change. And many sources cite that consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and solutions.
Our manufacturing partners are dedicated to the protection of the environment and the health of employees, neighbors and clients through proactive environmental management that reduces waste, conserves resources, and promotes recycling.
New tools such as Ecomedes, and others like it, are aiding in the availability of this type of information, making it easier to find and specify products and materials that fit a certain level of certification—all within one searchable database.
If your workplace requires a certain level of sustainability commitment, having a partner to help guide you through what to do next is key. Here are some practical tips for how to implement a sustainable approach within your workplace strategy:
Trade up
With the explosion of ancillary, the options are truly endless. Empire can help recommend like-for-like alternate products that meet at the sweet spot of the right design aesthetic, price point, and lead time, yet offer a more green-minded option. Our Creative Studio specialists are experts at knowing what to specify now.
Think ahead
Developing an end of life and reuse strategy can also help drive towards a sustainability goal in identifying ways to deal with existing, unwanted furniture. Whether the outcome is donation, liquidation, recycling, or reuse, we sensitize clients to the issues of environmental care in the decommissioning of their products.
Data speaks
You may not even realize the impact your program is already having. Environmental metrics reporting can help a company track the progress a program is making over time, especially with large or frequent purchasing, and is available with some of our major manufacturing partners like Steelcase.
Regardless of whether a project is going for LEED or WELL certifications, with all things being equal, doing what’s right for the environment is always the right call, and every little bit helps.
Despite employers’ best efforts to entice everyone back to the office with free snacks and fun events, people are dragging their feet. Their reluctance isn’t about COVID: If you look at the data, far more people have been to a restaurant, movie theater, or traveled on an airplane than who’s gone to the office, according to the Kastle Back to Work Barometer. People’s resistance doesn’t seem to be about flexible work either. Hybrid work has been embraced by 71% of global leaders, giving people the option to work two-to-three days from home or other locations.
Our partner, Steelcase, has determined a successful recipe for companies striving to bring their employees back to the office and willingly stay. A well-planned hybrid work policy is more than just allowing your employees to work from home a few days a week. The best plans include a reimagination of workplace design as well as in-office policies and technologies. Looking beyond the typical carrot-and-stick approach, employees are demanding a change in their experience while in the office. Is your workplace optimized for hybrid work?
Read more by visiting: Hybrid Needs a Home: Designing Neighborhoods at Work.
As we returned to Chicago in June, we were inspired by the innovative designs of Neocon 2022. This year’s theme, Design Makes a Statement, emulated from every showroom.
Even as hybrid work remains top of mind, the typical workplace is certainly not forgotten. As evidenced by what was on display at Neocon this year, brands are doubling down on technology solutions, resimercial designs, enhanced collaborative solutions, and areas for focused heads-down work.
Curved features, geometric shapes, Scandinavian-inspired designs, and earthy color tones dominated Neocon this year.
Check out all that’s new in our annual Neocon Trend Report.
Gary Levitan, Global Head of Procurement, Sourcing and Supply Chain, WeWork spoke to Procurement magazine on why the time is now for flexible working and the need for procurement talent.
In the enlightening conversation, Gary discusses the importance of data, technology and category management processes in scaling the business at WeWork given the explosive growth the company has continued to see in the face of the changing realities of work coming out of the global pandemic era. He also talks about good partnerships being critical and highlights Empire Office as one of those partners for WeWork.
A brief excerpt from the article is below.
Excerpt:
“Partnerships are critical,” says Levitan. “ It’s a bit of a cliche, especially in the procurement world. Our global supply chains are posing never-before-seen complexities and only by proactively leveraging true, collaborative partnerships do organizations stand any chance of mitigating these potentially existential risks.”
“Empire Office is an example of a partner who helps us buy furniture directly from multiple manufacturers. Although our product is space, that space comes furnished with fixtures and technology, and we need to get those products to our customers and members on time,” says Levitan. “Our partnership with Empire allows us to deliver fully furnished space on time and on budget.” This partnership helps WeWork create clear communication and clear expectations on both sides, at a time when having a reciprocal relationship is more critical than ever.
Read the full article here.
The world of hybrid work is here, and it will require brands to reanalyze their workspaces. Leases are becoming shorter, companies are reassessing their physical footprints, and business needs are changing daily. When planning for these workplace changes, one traditional office staple remains in high demand, the need for meeting rooms.
Meeting rooms will always be necessary for workspaces as they are integral for successful team collaboration. But traditional meeting rooms can be expensive; they are a fixed workplace feature and offer little adaptability for brands needing agile spaces that can flex and change as quickly as they do. This is where modular meeting rooms come in.
Modular meeting rooms offer a better way for companies to have the collaboration spaces they need without adding additional construction time, cost, and lack of space flexibility. Made from reconfigurable frames or free-standing pods, modular meeting rooms adapt to meet every brand’s unique and ever-changing needs.
FLEXIBLE
Unlike traditional meeting rooms, modular pods & meeting rooms can be positioned anywhere in your office. They can even be moved to a new location or floor, making them a truly sustainable workplace staple that can grow and change with your brand.
COST-EFFECTIVE
At a fraction of the cost of traditional construction, modular meeting rooms create a space for teams to collaborate successfully without breaking the bank. Their cost-effective price point also makes them attractive for startup brands whose needs will likely grow quickly.
TIME-SAVING
Modular options can be installed in a matter of hours, and they don’t require additional permits and contractors as traditional meetings rooms often do, providing you with a seamless and easy installation experience.
CUSTOMIZABLE
The options are endless with modular meeting rooms. They offer a wide array of finish, configuration, and branding options, making your solution bespoke to your brand. Several modular options also include integrated power solutions that keep your team’s power within reach during collaboration sessions. To make them even more productive, you can add glass or acoustical foam panels to add sound buffering so your teams collaborate without disturbing the rest of the office.
Ready to get modular? Explore our recommendations:
Spacestor Verandas
Kettal Pavilion O
Orangebox Air³
Boss Design Mews
Contact us to learn more and get back to the workplace safely & successfully.
A strategic return-to-office for the world’s workforce will require a change in mindset, approach, behavior, and space. Despite a flurry of ever-changing rules and regulations, employees are ready to get back into the workplace. Business leaders are seeking best practices.
Over the last year, workspaces have been retrofitted with safety in mind. But what comes next? We have some insights on that.
DESIGNING FOR PRODUCTIVITY
Open-plan offices of the past lacked support for employee’s focus. Moving forward, organizations will benefit from creating multimodal spaces that support collaboration and focus work equally.
Post-pandemic workspaces should offer areas for effective team collaboration, heads-down focus work zones, and easy access to tools and resources for employees to stay productive. Privacy pods, workbooths, and modular seating are great product solutions that offer employees a range of work modes.
DESIGNING FOR COMMUNITY
In our remote-working reality, employees are missing their coworkers and the sense of belonging that their workspaces used to provide them. Organizations will need to rethink the purpose of their office from simply a workplace to becoming the infrastructure for building social capital and fostering a sense of purpose and belonging.
As employees return, offices can foster this feeling by offering spaces designed to encourage employee engagement and interaction. Communal areas like cafes, game rooms, and bleacher-style seating meeting spaces provide employees with a gathering place to collaborate with their coworkers and access to a sense of belonging that they were missing while working remotely.
DESIGNING FOR FLEXIBILITY
The pandemic has taught us that companies need to embrace flexibility. The workplaces of the future will utilize multi-use spaces that will support diverse types of activities.
These spaces will use furnishings that easily move to allow settings to expand and contract, supporting distancing needs when necessary and accommodating different-size groups and activities seamlessly. Mixed location teams will collaborate in uninterrupted harmony with integrated technology solutions, like e-meeting rooms, with screens preset for video conferencing.
With a few tweaks like these, offices can morph and change to serve employees’ ever-changing needs and expectations in the post-pandemic work world.
Download our complete guide on “What’s Next In the Workplace” here.
Learn more from Steelcase’s Global Report: Employee expectations have changed. Is your workplace ready?
Empire’s Director of Strategic Partnerships Elizabeth Irizarry co-hosted a special podcast along with special guests Steven Burgos, Senior Associate | Design Director at Gensler Miami, and Randy Carballo, EVP at Blanca Commercial Real Estate, on the topic of The Future of Work, It’s Complicated.
The spirited conversation touched on many interesting topics related to where many of us find ourselves today – navigating the hybrid work environment and what’s to come for the future of offices.
Top of mind for many companies in planning their return to work is a space that enables flexibility and agility. All speakers agreed that in order for companies to transition their workforce back into the office effectively, there needs to be an apparent reason for them to come back, and the space must provide for a specific purpose. The days of going into an office to “punch a timecard” are gone; now, employees are coming in to get something they can’t get at home. Whether it’s meeting with clients, collaborating with coworkers, or participating in a shared experience, the office can still serve a purpose. However, the true intent of the office coming out of this pandemic will be something to continue to watch. Companies must be prepared to make adjustments as needed to best support their employees’ needs.
Other changes include transforming the commercial office to function more as our home offices do. Heads-down time and focused work product improved for many during the pandemic with the ability to work from home. For companies looking to retain that spike in focus and productivity, an open office where all employees sit in a large space all together may not be the answer. Adding focus rooms or nooks can balance out the time spent collaborating amongst coworkers with the quiet, focused time we have become accustomed to at home.
Lastly, the speakers see technology continuing to play a huge role as we transition back to the office. The rise of Zoom was not limited to just the WFH era. As more and more companies roll out their hybrid workforce plans, many predict you’ll see even more need for technology that can connect both virtual and in-person conferencing. In addition, spatial intelligence technology will be even more critical to monitor space usage within the office, enabling companies to make better decisions regarding the design of their space based on actual data.
Overall, there is a greater focus on worker wellness, health and wellbeing after one of the most challenging periods many of us have faced in our lifetimes. Providing employees the freedom to work where they do it best, along with making company-specific decisions on bringing everyone back together, remains a considerable challenge and highlights a paradox in workplace planning that won’t be solved overnight.
As the speakers suggest, there is no “one size fits all” approach, and every company’s needs are very different. The question is not whether we need more or less office space but rather: why are my employees coming into the office? As Steven pointed out, this can be a massive opportunity for companies to impact change within their workforce and create a more productive and innovative environment.
At Empire Office, we are excited to play a role in planning the future of work with our clients and industry partners such as Gensler and Blanca Real Estate. There is no doubt that we will indeed feel the trends and impacts of this pandemic era for years to come.
To listen to the full podcast, use the following link and select your preferred platform: https://linktr.ee/Infiniteattraction.
Designing in an ongoing pandemic is challenging. This time has shown us that flexibility is paramount in any space. Get back into the office with these three workspace alterations.
1. Spatial Division Made Beautiful
Support distancing measures and make directional paths simpler to follow with physical barriers; use planters or open shelving to add some aesthetic value. Layer your branding into your space with custom signage that clearly marks directional paths or open work areas.
Explore Our Picks:
2. All-Around Protection
Install division screens or wrap-around workbooths to provide spatial workstation protection for your employees. Made from either acrylic or PET felt, division screens should be at least 24″H and wrap 3-ways around to provide optimal protection for your employees.
Explore Our Picks:
3. A Different View On Ancillary
Ancillary areas can still be an incredible asset for employee collaboration with some minor adjustments made. Make employees comfortable in breakout spaces furnished with pieces designed with distancing protocols in mind.
Explore Our Picks:
COVID-19 SERVICES
Get back to work safely with our COVID-19 services. Retrofit your current space using technology-backed tools and best-in-class product solutions.
We are in difficult, trying times. Over the last few weeks, throughout the country, we have seen widespread unrest. All of the communities where Empire is a part of have been affected by the recent events. While we are opposed to any form of violence, our nation cannot turn a “blind eye” to intolerance, injustice and inequity, to any person, or group of people. As an industry leader, it is important to address this, and to clearly state: we are committed to the principle that each individual is entitled to humanity, safety, liberty, and security.
Empire is extremely proud of our diverse population of employees, made up of people from many backgrounds, races and ethnicities. This rich diversity makes us better as individuals and as a company. This diversity also assists us in every aspect of how we think and perform. Diversity makes us more innovative, and hopefully, helps us all embrace our differences for a common good.
While we are listening with open ears to the truths being communicated, we aren’t sitting idly by on the sidelines. Empire is committed to being part of the long overdue change in our country. This week we introduced our “90-day Charity Support Program,” in which we have identified certain charities to match employee donations dollar for dollar. We are proud to partner with these great organizations that serve a diverse community and are well known and respected.
Empire’s donations, combined with the donations of its employees, could lead to considerable monies donated to the respective charities, and Empire and its employees will be able to help support these important causes in a much-needed time in our nation’s history.
The charities in Empire’s Charity Program are as follows:
2. United Way
We will consolidate all donations and make the matching donations on August 31, 2020.
Beyond the charity contributions, Empire has been committed to and will continue to uphold our equal opportunity employer status promoting diversity and inclusion within our own workplace.
It is our sincere hope and prayer that the universal outcry from these events will bring about tangible changes that will create a more just and inclusive society.
We wish everyone good health and safety during these trying times.
The Empire Management Team
What lies ahead in the upcoming months is uncertain at best. However, we are confident in the fact that we will all eventually be back to work in our offices–at some point. Once government mandates and restrictions start lifting, companies and employees may need to rethink the way they work in the office.
Over the past several years, workplace design has promoted a more collaborative setting with lower physical barriers to achieve a more dynamic work environment. In preparing for a workplace post-COVID-19, our clients are beginning to discuss how to retrofit these types of open-plan offices to protect employees during this fluid time, even if it’s just a short-term strategy. A complete overhaul may not be necessary, but adding a few additional protective pieces and rethinking the layout of the space along with establishing new protocols may help keep everyone safe and healthy while returning to work.
Here are some things we are already starting to see.
In the months ahead, there will certainly be even more expertise around these topics, and some lessons learned once they are put into practice. Below are some insightful thought leadership pieces created by some of our favorite industry partners.
What Happens When We Return to the Workplace
By Gensler
How Leaders are Responding to Covid Workplace Disruption
By Gallup
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