Business Furniture + Choreo Focus on Safety With New Venture
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based Business Furniture + Choreo is gearing up for the post-COVID-19 work environment. The company is launching a new business venture focused on bringing the comforts of work-from-home into the office.
Business Furniture says MINDSET, located in Fishers, is one of the first design showrooms in the country focused solely on creating safe and compelling workspaces.
In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, Chief Executive Officer Mary Beth Oakes explained how the concept evolved.
“The original idea, the original notion, was to create a space that really shifted the mindset so that we were helping organizations to create spaces where people really do come together to share ideas, to share information to innovate, to be creative,” explained Oakes.
But as the company was set to launch, the healthcare crisis struck. Offices closed and sent workers home to work remotely.
“As a result of the pandemic, we had another opportunity to take it one step farther,” said Oakes.
She says the team asked a lot of questions about what employers and employees would want when they return to an office workspace.
Oakes says they relied in part on results from a survey conducted by business partner Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS), a Michigan-based business furniture manufacturer.
“And it shows more than half of the people surveyed said they want to work from home for a day or two, but they want to get back in the office. There’s the real feeling to get back into that office and connecting with people,” said Oakes.
She said safety was the number one issue employees are concerned about as they return. Oakes says that could mean better ventilation or social distancing, issues her company addresses for clients.
“They’re looking for those safe and compelling kind of spaces and really coming back to better than what they left last March,” explained Oakes. “Better technology. Just better spaces, better opportunities for interaction.”
MINDSET is scheduled to open in March.