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34 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / December 2018 ELEMENTS Furniture Best Practices for Buying New Office Furniture H ave you just signed a lease on a new of- fice space? Are you wanting to update your office's existing furniture to func- tion better with current and future technology trends? Where should you begin and how do you sort through the 10,000 U.S. manufacturers of of- fice furniture? Here are some tips to make the ex- perience an enjoyable one so that you do not pull your hair out. It’s important to think about how your employ- ees function on a daily bases. Are they in the office 40 hours a week needing a permanent location, or do they come in a few hours a day or week? Free-ad- dressing is very similar to hoteling. Many businesses in which employees have flexible work schedules are continuing to move away from assigned workstations and offices, allowing employees to find a spot to work that's best for them. To meet this need touchdown spaces are becoming very popular. This could be a bar- height table with power in the middle, which allows anyone with a laptop to walk up, sit down and get some work done before heading off to his next meet- ing. Another popular solution for touchdown spaces are lounge collections featuring high backs that create privacy and the upholstery helps to absorb sound. In your open plan, be sure to create some spaces for private calls or small meetings. Enclosed wall products have come out that integrate with ventilation, lighting and, of course, technology. The cost is usually higher than drywall, but the product is freestanding furniture that you get to take with you when your lease ends and you can move it within your space as your needs change. If you don’t have a private place for someone to make a personal call and the employee has to go down to her car or the building lobby seeking privacy for a two-minute call, it can turn into 30 minutes of downtime before she is refocused on the task at hand. Along with free-addressing, employees are no lon- ger tethered to a wall outlet to charge devices. Wire- less technology is not new for getting on the internet, but how about charging your phone without a cord? One manufacturer has a new product that puts a wireless charging unit below the work surface, allow- ing Qi-enabled tablets and smartphones to charge by being placed over the device. We will start to see this installed in meeting tables, workstations and private office desks. New furniture is fun – the process of drawings, prod- uct selecting and overseeing the installation is fun for me. My No. 1 recommendation is to give yourself more time to go through the process than you think is need- ed. Thanks to our booming economy, manufacturer’s Meredith Gershberg Design Resource Group Vero bar-height table by Arcadia Pods by Boss Design Ziva Lounge by JAI Furniture