Hydration technology is a natural fit for the modern smart office concept. Here’s how hydration influences more efficient and responsible office setups.
Traditional offices tended to focus on specific design and usability features. Square footage was important, with bigger typically being better. Cubicles divided up space, giving each worker their own little kingdom within the larger corporate context.
Modern offices have steadily challenged some of these office expectations in recent years. The attitude around cubicles, for instance, shifted from a private space to a prison cell. After the pandemic, when hybrid work and part-time in-office attendance became the norm, smaller office spaces were also seen as a way to accommodate in-person working without overinvesting in office space.
As these shifts have played out, new priorities have filled their place. Employee wellness and sustainability initiatives have been particularly important priorities, leading to the rise of a new kind of workspace: the smart office.
While some smart office aspects, like lighting and layout, are obvious, others can easily fly below the radar. This resource will look at the rise of the smart office and the role that water and hydration technology, in particular, is playing in this new wave of workplace design.
Moving from the dumb to the smart office
Human error and inefficiency have influenced office waste for years. For example, corporate and institutional buildings already represent a large portion of overall energy use. Compounding this sustainability concern is the fact that buildings waste as much as 30% of the energy they use.
These operational inefficiencies led to a push for “smarter” office spaces. For years, this has taken place in fits and starts. HVAC systems have slowly become more efficient. Things like smart thermostats, adaptive lighting and occupancy sensors have improved how spaces are lit and climate-controlled.
Much of this has historically been a cost-benefit analysis game. If office managers could use less, they could spend less. In recent years, the focus has shifted beyond the dollar figure. Smart offices have come to represent environmentally sensitive places where waste is minimized, resource usage is optimized and sustainability is a goal in and of itself.
This larger picture approach has led to the rise of “high-performance building design.” The term refers to a specific set of smart office parameters that emphasize perpetual integration and optimization within building spaces. These focus on major high-performance attributes that specifically include things like environmental health, safety, security, accessibility and functionality. Energy conservation is key, as are productivity and operational cost-benefit considerations.
When taken as a whole, high-performance buildings lead to less energy and waste and lower operational costs. It’s important to note that smart workplaces are also seen as a way to protect the workers within them. More research is emerging that shows how efficient, optimized workplaces benefit employees, improve wellness and lead to more satisfied people. That is where water comes into the picture.
Why hydration belongs in the smart office conversation
The research used to define high-performance building design specifically includes lower water usage as an advantage of smart office spaces. This is because one of the goals is to use best practices to protect and conserve water within an efficient office space. This is a natural goal in an area known for its waste and the large consumption of plastic water bottles.
The impact goes beyond efficient water usage, too. Smart spaces are about optimization, and hydration plays a key role in that process. Research shows that dehydration in the form of as little as a 3-4% drop in body hydration can lead to as much as a 25% decrease in workplace performance.
Between the environmental concerns of plastic water bottles and water waste and the wellness and efficiency concerns of dehydration, water has become a natural part of the smart office conversation. This has also led to solutions that have gone beyond plastic water coolers and water bottles.
FloWater is a good example of a corporate hydration solution that tackles accessibility, wellness and sustainability at the same time. The premium hydration company’s Refill Stations are designed as in-line units that connect directly to existing water lines, removing the need for plastic water bottles.
As far as worker health is concerned, these Refill Stations contain a multi-stage purification system that uses multiple filters, advanced reverse osmosis and activated oxygen to remove up to 99.9% of contaminants of all kinds (including lead and microplastics) from municipal water sources. Add in the accessibility that comes from chilled to hot water on demand, and each Refill Station becomes a key part of a smarter office setup.
Smart offices, smart water: The next wave of smart offices are well-hydrated ones
Technology like FloWater’s Refill Stations has become a key component of sustainable smart office design. Hydration technology allows office managers to remove waste and improve health, creating happier people and smarter offices in the process. At the same time, the natural boost in productivity that comes from a well-hydrated workforce helps offset any costs associated with the upgrade.
Things like lighting and layouts tend to take the headlines when it comes to smarter office spaces. Often, though, it is small improvements in areas like hydration that can make the biggest differences in taking spaces from “dumb” inefficient environments to “smarter” workplaces designed with modern expectations and priorities in mind.
