Office trends to watch as the return-to-office movement spreads
Fursys: “Providing a practical guide to improving the office”
Fursys, a company specializing in office environments, has published the ‘Korea Office Trend Report,’ which examines the major trends in Korean offices in 2022 and offers a perspective on the future direction of changes in the workplace environment.
The report delivers information on domestic office trends relevant to this moment, as the ‘back to office’ movement gains momentum starting in 2023.
The report contains data and insights derived from three proprietary research efforts by the Fursys Office Environment Research Team: △office trend tracking, △a survey of Korean office workers, and △an office space database. Along with macroeconomic trends—which analyze the social, economic, and cultural currents affecting offices around key keywords—the report allows readers to identify various aspects of change, such as individual demands for workspace and trends in space partitioning, based on a survey of the current state of domestic offices.
The office trend tracking divided a wide range of domestic and international office-related content into four categories—macroeconomic trends, the people who work, how people work, and the spaces in which people work—and tracked them accordingly. Through this tracking, the team examined cause-and-effect relationships by separating the causes and results of office-related phenomena, and derived the insights needed for the new office.
In particular, through the survey of Korean office workers, the report analyzes the gap between global megatrends and current domestic trends, addressing the actual flow of office trend changes that may differ from expectations. Based on this data, the report is expected to serve as a practical guideline and resource for companies seeking to improve their work environments and build a better organizational culture.
Another feature of the report is that it explains subjects that might otherwise feel difficult using easy-to-understand terms, such as ‘trending keywords, consistently noteworthy keywords, and keywords that have lost steam,’ ‘the truth is, both older generations and the MZ generation want the same thing,’ and ‘employees who desperately need their own space.’
Fursys stated, “As the environment surrounding work changes rapidly—so much so that the ‘office big bang’ is cited as one of the important phenomena of 2023—the role of the office is changing as well. We hope that, through this report, those who want to build a better organizational culture will understand the real needs of their members and create positive changes in their work environments.”
The Fursys Office Environment Research Team studies the changes and aspirations of Korean offices and, based on its office space database and expert research accumulated over many years, presents standards for a better work environment.