BC Business
Design blueprints may see a major shift in coming years as researchers push for a greater variety of employee spaces
“Open concept” may already have received a pink slip from corporate designers in North America. As noted by the New York Times, office redesigns increasingly incorporate a variety of work spaces, with employees encouraged to move around and work in small groups instead of each being shackled to a specific desk.
Standing tables, couches, lounges and even isolated booths that offer greater privacy for confidential conversations or projects requiring extreme focus are among the features being touted by forward-thinking companies. Salesforce.com Inc. has incorporated meditation rooms into floor plans at a San Francisco tower, while a significant percentage of Microsoft Corp.’s Redmond, Washington, buildings now include team spaces housing eight to 12 engineers instead of the smaller and more isolating offices of the company’s past.
The strategy, experts confirm, goes beyond aesthetics. New floor plans aim to expedite communication and collaboration. And it’s not just innovative tech giants leading the charge. “These workplace ideas are beginning to be adopted across all industries,” explained Arlyn Vogelmann, a principal at architecture and design firm Gensler, in the same report.
Research from around the globe supports the new direction. The University of Oregon published data in 2011 that demonstrated a decrease in sick days for employees with more access to natural light and views of the outdoors, while British researchers found in 2010 that when employees could shape their own physical work experience productivity increased 25 per cent.