The average American spends more than 2,200 hours at work during a typical year – that’s more time than we spend watching TV, enjoying our families and engaging in leisurely activities. Given the time we dedicate to our professions, it’s no wonder that many employers want to make their workspace the most collaborative, comfortable and productive environment possible. Here are some of the latest and greatest office design trends to hit the market in recent years.

Collaboration – Gone are the days of the cubicle jungle, where employees are roped off from their co-workers and secluded to their own seven-by-seven cube. Today’s employers want their teams to engage with one another in collaborative, open workspaces that allow for constant interaction and brainstorming.

Open-Air Offices and Floor Plans – Open-air offices are the visual equivalent of the open-door policy employers like to communicate to their team. By creating executive offices with all glass fronts and no doors, team members feel as though they can openly communicate with their leaders.

Tech-Savvy Spaces – Today’s workplace is drastically different than it was 20 years ago. Laptops, wireless printers, the Internet, scanners and smart phones have changed the way we work and the spaces we do it in. Workers need less space to conduct business, but more adaptable spaces that will allow new technologies to be seamlessly integrated. This means providing spaces that allow for easy WiFi connections and wireless technologies, a flexible information technology structure, collaborative workstations and any additional technology needs specific to the company occupying the space.

Green is Good – While there are varying degrees of green an office can accommodate, any move toward creating a more sustainable work environment is ultimately better for a company’s bottom line and its employees. Most companies today have sustainability programs in place. These programs can be wide-ranging, from the types of office supplies they purchase to products used in maintaining their facilities to ultimately creating a LEED®-certified office space.

To check out this full article written by Keith Tickell at Flagler, one of Florida’s oldest and largest commercial real estate firms, visit Jacksonville Advantage Magazine.