ZEELAND, Mich., April 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- COVID-19 may
not have made any 2020 prediction lists, but it certainly is
leaving an impression on how companies and individuals will work in
the future. With vaccines rolling out globally, infection rates
dropping, and local governments beginning to increase the occupancy
of everything from local parks to restaurants, CEOs around the
world are looking for new office solutions to fit the future of
work.
Herman Miller, (NASDAQ:MLHR),
who has been at the forefront of every major workplace advancement
(yes, even the cubicle), has devoted thousands of hours working
with companies of every size trying to help them navigate the
pandemic and prepare for post-pandemic work environments. This
research confirmed what Herman Miller workplace strategists
predicted pre-pandemic—organizations were craving holistic
solutions that took on all of the challenges that come with
designing meaningful workspaces for the present, while
simultaneously setting them up for success in an uncertain,
fast-changing future.
Enter the OE1 Workspace Collection. OE1 is the latest in a line
of office products that embraces the unpredictability of the future
by landing squarely at the crossroads of agility, functionality,
and modularity. OE1 offers a wide range of items that can be used
to create highly varied work settings yet are flexible enough to
adapt to growth, new needs or desires, or even the unexpected—like
a global pandemic.
"While this project was started prior to the pandemic, our
research over the last year has only intensified our belief in the
relevance of this line," says Ryan
Anderson, Vice President of Global Research and Insights at
Herman Miller. "With people forced to work outside of offices,
traditional means of workplace planning have been challenged by the
unpredictability of how people will work now and in the future.
These changes will continue, and workspaces need to constantly
adapt. Workers are ready for a greater degree of variety, choice,
and control—people want their environments to work for them, and
OE1 is designed to enable that."
A collection of essential pieces that spans mobile tables,
movable walls, height-adjustable workstations, storage trolleys,
and more, OE1 directly responds to how and where people want to
work, encouraging a reexamination of traditional workplace design
while allowing employees to build, test, and recreate their spaces.
By enabling people to experiment with space, employees will gain
confidence as they will not only discover solutions needed in the
now, but also ones that can be adjusted rapidly if needed in the
future. OE1 mitigates the risk of an uncertain future for
organizations yet empowers employees to create optimal spaces to
suit their work.
"OE1 puts the power of workplace reconfiguration in the
employees' hands," says Malisa Bryant, Senior Vice President and General
Manager of Global Workplace at Herman Miller. "This is a huge
benefit for both the organization and the employees. For the
organization, it provides a high degree of assurance that their
workspaces will remain productive, relevant, and desirable over the
life of the building without spending vast sums on facility
reconfigurations. For the employee, it signals that the space is in
service to them – that it exists to facilitate their desired work
processes so that they can have greater control and achieve their
goals. Real estate is highly static, but work can change quickly.
OE1 was designed to bridge the difference in clock speed between
work and the workplace to help organizations succeed in a new era
of work."
OE1 was created in partnership with designers Sam Hecht and Kim
Colin of Industrial Facility. With a goal of understanding
the physical and cultural changes that had started to take shape
surrounding the future of work, the team made visits around the
world to understand the entire industry ecosystem. Identifying
these signals of the future, Sam and Kim carefully crafted the
suite of products available in the OE1 Workspace Collection.
"One thing we noticed is that day one, the furniture is
installed—and day two, things need to be changed. When you zoom out
to a macro view, you become aware of the magnitude and pace of
ongoing change. So OE1 is more like an un-system – it's playing by
different rules that address these scalar changes," says
Sam Hecht.
"OE1 offers choice, is flexible, and can adapt so that
individuals (not just organizations) get to experience these
qualities directly," says Kim Colin.
"Our challenge was to invent something completely new while also
making it recognizably useful. OE1 is designed so that everything
is having a conversation with each other, and the conversation is
healthy."
Used as individual pieces or the entire collection, OE1
seamlessly integrates into existing spaces, or can be used to
create entirely new ones, enabling organizations to create new
facilities or strategically improve existing ones for post-pandemic
working. Companies of any size will find that OE1 offers greater
agility and better workplace experiences. From the organization as
a whole all the way down to a team or individual, OE1 creates
flexible, fluid environments that can easily adapt to shifting
goals and personal preference. With tables that can easily be
pushed together or broken apart, flexible walls that that divide
space and create boundary, and a myriad of other adaptable OE1
products, each one was created with key details specially designed
to help spaces meet any number of needs without permanence or
rigidity. Above all, OE1 aims to give peace of mind that whatever
comes (expected or unexpected) investments have been made in
solutions that can quickly shift and adapt with minimal
interruption.
For a full look at the OE1 collection, please visit our
website.
About Herman Miller
Herman Miller is a globally recognized leader in design. Since
its inception in 1905, the company's innovative, problem-solving
designs and furnishings have inspired the best in people wherever
they live, work, learn, heal, and play. In 2018, Herman Miller
created Herman Miller Group, a purposefully selected, complementary
family of brands that includes Colebrook Bosson Saunders, Design
Within Reach, Geiger, HAY, Maars Living Walls, Maharam, and
naughtone. Guided by a shared purpose—design for the good of
humankind—Herman Miller Group shapes places that matter for
customers while contributing to a more equitable and sustainable
future for all. For more information visit
www.hermanmiller.com/about-us.
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SOURCE Herman Miller, Inc.