Open designs for offices have been popular, especially for coworking spaces. An open office layout is a floor plan centered on large, open space with minimal enclosed offices. They can be highly effective for collaborative teams and are economical and flexible. However, open office design is not suitable for everyone. Balancing openness and privacy is key to a successful design. Here’s how you can design an open office for everyone in the workplace.
Pros and Cons of Open Offices
Open offices are great for collaboration, creative thinking, and innovation. It’s also cheaper and saves energy! An open office can easily accommodate increases in headcount or rearrangements of groups due to changes in the company structure.
However, there are some challenges that come with the open office design. Noise and distractions make it harder for employees to focus on their work and conduct business. With an open office plan, there is also a lack of privacy. It’s difficult to conduct sensitive phone calls without being overheard.
So how do we design an open office that will work for everyone?
Evaluate Workspace Needs
The first step in designing an open office layout is understanding what type of work environment your team needs to thrive. Some teams need highly collaborative space, while other teams need private offices for phone calls with clients.
Open office spaces with noise control, privacy, and security are the best mixture of all work environments. Private conference rooms and call boxes are some solutions to these things. To design an effective office, you need to know which of these concerns are most relevant to your workforce.
Modified Open Office
Flexible offices ensure employees are happy. With the rise of remote workers, adhering to the wants of your workforce can improve headcount in the office. To do so, you need a workspace that’s flexible and works in any situation.
Open office designs with private areas that can dynamically adjust along with a company’s needs are ideal. Movable phone booths that can be moved within the space allow autonomy. Having a place to gather with coworkers and collaborate entices employees to come into the office instead of working remotely.
With the trend of remote workers rising along with open offices, creating the perfect balance between privacy and collaboration is key for making your employees enjoy their workspace. If you’re looking to design your office to better suit the needs of your employees, contact Planning Interiors at 470-545-4906.