Is your workplace designed to improve productivity?
Besides creating a layout that promotes productivity and collaboration, specially designed furniture can also give employees a sense of privacy. Vitra, a furniture company based in Switzerland, sells alcove sofas with high, padded sides. Small groups can hold meetings there and feel far removed from the bustle of the open office around them.
Vitra also sells workbays, which are variations on a cubicle, with curving, wrap-around sides that come up to eye level, to minimise distraction. Another workbay design has higher partitions that curve just a little over halfway around the workspace. Tushar Mittal, founder and managing director, StudioKon Ventures, says, “There are a lot of clusters that are made keeping the open theme in mind.
For example, movable screens, lounge spaces and huddle areas etc. Cabins can also be converted into meeting rooms so that a person doesn’t need to go to a separate room for a meeting.” Designating a ‘silent zone’ on the work floor can also be an option.
“Sufficient meeting rooms spread across the floor, provision of private workspace for employees’ use and establishing certain ground rules for communication like sending an e-mail to a person wearing a headphone may help in solving some of the problems associated with open plan offices,” says Monica Malhotra Kandhari, MBD Group.
Easily adjustable furniture promotes movement. “Work can happen anywhere — a few minutes here, a few hours there. The right way is to let people choose their own work destinations,” says Uli Gwinner, president (Asia Pacific), Steelcase.
For those who toggle between introverted and extroverted modes throughout their work day, canopies and hoods can create a sense of privacy within the existing space.
This supports cognitive and emotional well-being and allows people to escape and disconnect.