Improve your Office Space with Activity Based Working
Both inside and outside the office,
activity based working is facilitated by technology and an open culture,
which allows staff to work anywhere.
Activity based working offers a number of advantages over more static forms of office design.
Cost
It is typically less expensive than a traditional layout because it
is less reliant on dedicated workstations and so shifts the focus of the
building away from occupancy and towards usability. This is
characterised by a change of emphasis from efficiency to effectiveness
and also a reduction in the amount of space taken up by a typical
organisation.
It is even likely to be more efficient, given that desks in traditional
office layouts are typically unoccupied for more than half of the
working day.
Future proofing
Traditional workplace design models are typically associated with a
phenomenon known as churn, which simply describes the cost of moving
people in response to organisational restructures and changes. This is a
problem that can never be completely eradicated but it can be reduced
when individuals aren’t direct owners of a particular workstation or
space. Activity based working is inherently more responsive to change because it is the
people that move, more than the furniture and fittings.
Scalability
Activity based working is the underlying principle behind the new
generation of tech campuses that are springing up to serve the likes of
Apple, Google and Facebook. It is also the basis for the award winning
Sky Central offices in West London and a growing number of major
corporate headquarters.
Concentration
One of the major challenges facing people at work is the ability to
work free of interruptions and distractions. Although there is a great
deal of focus on acoustics, visual privacy is an important factor that
should be addressed in a design.
Activity based working provides a range of working spaces
designed for specific tasks, like quiet spaces, focus areas and
collaborative zones. It is better to provide people with the chance
to work in spaces that offer them time free of distractions.
Collaborative work
Activity based working doesn’t just offer the right spaces for people to work
collaboratively, it signals to them that it’s OK to move around and work
with the people with whom you need to work. It also increases the
likelihood of chance encounters and so not only improves the flow of
information across disciplines, but also fosters the sorts of
serendipitous moments that are essential in creative work.
Recruitment and retention
The ability to work in an autonomous and flexible way is already one
of the major attractions for talent. People are literally drawn to agile
working environments that allow them to decide for themselves the best
way to get things done. And, of course it helps organisations to retain
the best weapons they have in the war for talent.
Sustainability
Because an activity based working environment typically utilises
significantly less office space than a traditional model of workplace
design, its smaller footprint goes hand in hand with a smaller carbon
footprint.
Wellbeing and productivity
The ability to move around the workplace inevitably has a number of
benefits for wellbeing. It gives employees the chance to change posture, surroundings and address the problems commonly associated with sedentary
work. Encouraging people to move more is only partly about offering them
elements like sit-stand desks. It should also be embedded in the culture
of the workplace.
Interested in creating an activity based working environment? Get In Touch With Us Today!
Please take some time
to review our website where you will learn more about the different services we provide. Within our case
studies page, you will find some of our most recent projects providing detailed
information on the services provided along with images of the completed works.
To learn more about how we can bring your own workplace design ideas to life, you can contact us for an informal chat by calling 0800 0943 1255. Alternatively, any e-mail enquiries can be sent to info@freshworkspace.com