With flexibility, autonomy, variety and choice at the top of employees’ wants for workspace design, activity based working is a key practice that many employers should look to introduce.
As a result of covid-19 and technology advancements, the traditional approach to working from an assigned desk is slowly dying out. In its place are a variety of areas such as collaboration spaces, coffee lounges and phone booths to name a few, that the employees can select based on the task at hand.
In a nutshell, activity based working is a way of working that empowers the employee to opt for a workspace that suits the needs of the task at hand in order to achieve the best result in a productive and efficient manner. Activity based working can be seen across many large companies such as Facebook and Google as it allows for increased flexibility and improved results.
What does activity based working look like?
Collaboration Spaces
Collaboration spaces are a must have in activity based working spaces as they provide comfortable spaces where employees can work together successfully. These spaces can vary from individual rooms with whiteboards or presentation facilities or to specially designated desking areas that allow teams to work together well.
Project Rooms
One of the most popular features of activity based working spaces are the project rooms that are perfect as quiet spaces to work in with colleagues. Often they include a facility for 2-4 people to work with a presentation screen and video calling abilities and/or a whiteboard, perfect for off the cuff get togethers.
Café Lounges
Café lounges are the perfect way to bring together employees socially, building relationships and company culture. Café lounges are perfect for off the cuff meetings or when there is a project to be worked on collaboratively and ideas need to be generated. They also have the added benefit that they are great spaces where employees can ‘bump into each other’ sparking impromptu conversations and often bringing about solutions to commonly shared problems.
Meeting or Conference Rooms
In many offices, meeting rooms are the most in demand spaces as they are perfect for large groups to get together whether that be for presentations, executive meetings, monthly reviews and so on. It is important that you incorporate multiple meeting rooms into your activity based working office design to ensure your employees have the facilities they need.
Private Booths
Private booths are another great feature in activity based working office spaces as they offer the privacy and quiet that so many people in open plan office spaces require. These private booths offer employees single seating quiet areas that separate them from the flow of the office where they can get their head down on a project or take a private call.
By implementing activity based working into your office there is little doubt that you will see an increase in productivity, employee satisfaction and the overall result of your employee’s output will improve greatly.
Click here to see examples of activity based working office spaces.