In today’s ever-changing business world, more businesses are moving toward flexible work settings that allow them to evolve organically, expand operations, and respond to challenges. While flexible office environments tend to eschew the rules of traditional offices, some guiding principles and insights are fundamental to successfully adopting a more relaxed approach to office design. In this post, we’ll examine those insights, so you have the knowledge and foresight to guide your team’s transition to a more flexible office environment.

Give Your Team Personal Space

When thinking of flexible office spaces, it’s easy to overemphasize shared, flexible spaces while neglecting the importance of quiet and focus. Don’t forget that every team member still needs a personal, focus-oriented space to complete individualized tasks and projects. Without getting away from more active office areas, it’s easy for employees to lose focus and become less productive.

Direct Traffic Away From Workspaces

Flexible office spaces are ideal for encouraging your team to move throughout your organization’s office space and find new ways to use that space more effectively. However, there are some high-traffic areas you need to consider when designing an office layout.

Areas around bathrooms, kitchens, breakrooms, stairs, and elevators generally attract a high volume of foot traffic throughout the day. While these areas are suitable for collaborative and break-away spaces, they’re not great for personalized workspaces. So, be sure that you’re accounting for daily office traffic when planning focus areas.

Utilize Soundproofing

Today’s soundproofing technology can maximize conversation privacy, minimize ambient distractions, and keep your team focused. With options from sound-absorbing modular wall systems and panels to electronic sound masking solutions, the sonic qualities of flexible office space are just as important as the physical layout.

Explore Activity-Based Working

An activity-based workspace is all about giving your team the tools they need to optimize a space for specific projects and tasks. That means having an effectively flexible office space goes hand in hand with activity-based work. With an activity-based work environment, areas are designed with specific activities in mind:

• Focused, individual work

• Collaboration and sharing

• Project management

• Conference calls

• Casual meeting spaces

• Formal meeting rooms

Paired with modular wall systems, furniture, and fixtures, activity-based work areas don’t force your team to conform workflows to their office space. Instead, they’re able to figure out how to use that space for their ever-changing needs, roles, and goals.

Portland’s Office Design Experts

If you’re interested in understanding how a more flexible office environment can help your organization prepare for tomorrow’s challenges, schedule your free workspace audit with the experts at DESIGN+BUILD today. We’ll work with you to assess your current workspace and start exploring the possibilities for turning your vision of what an office should be into a reality. Contact us today!