Gone are the days when employees worked in isolation confined in cramped cubicles with high partitions. With more companies in the UAE embracing the concept of activity-based workplaces, office interior designers have started to come up with stylish, wide open floor plan designs with no allocated desk spaces.
Earlier, the average office space used to be 70 per cent cubicle and 30 per cent collaborative or shared space. Today, that equation is 55 per cent cubicle or cellular office and 45 per cent shared space. “However, from our design experience, we have found that a hybrid solution often works best in the UAE: small private rooms for concentrated work, personal work stations in open office settings for team work, and a variety of formal and informal meeting spaces,” says Gema McKeown, Head of Sheikh Zayed Road Showroom, Bafco.
Smooth transition
The shift from enclosed or semi-enclosed cubicles to open workspaces that are intentionally shared to promote communication and foster collaboration, innovation, discussions and debate is the biggest change in office design.
The global trend towards activity-based workplaces has come about in order to support the demands of a more mobile millennial workforce that prefers an open, collaborative management style. These offices tend to be less hierarchical and are designed to facilitate collaboration, personal accountability and flexibility. “When opting for an activity-based workplace, it is important to incorporate innovative designs and technology tools to empower individuals to choose different types of work settings that suit the objectives they need to achieve at that moment,” says Marcos Bish, Managing Director, Summertown Interiors.
Another factor to consider when looking at new ways of working is the buy-in of existing staff members, says McKeown. “When an office is designed correctly, buy-in comes quickly and [it] can immediately promote the flow of information between employees,” she says. “However, most workers will still need concentration space and privacy in order to truly feel at home.”
The Smart Workplace in 2030, a report by American manufacturer Johnson Controls, points out that workplace agility is emerging as an important priority for providers of workplace services and infrastructure. An agile workplace is one that is constantly transforming, adjusting and responding to organisational learning, change and uncertainty by continuously improving work and the infrastructure that enables it.
Planning is the key to designing an effective collaboration-driven workplace. “Consider the primary activities of your organisation before designing a space,” says Jon Steiner, Executive Director, Cityspace, an office interior design and workplace consultancy firm. “Activity-based designs are created based on the requirements of each organisation. For instance, the departments who need to interact regularly, must sit next to each other so that companies can support new patterns of collaboration,” says Steiner.
Lauren Parrott, Furniture Division Manager, KPS World, agrees, “It is important to assess the needs of the workforce and create areas of collaboration accordingly.”
Collaboration vs privacy
Considering that lack of privacy, distraction and noise are the key concerns of workers in open plan offices, designers are looking for best ways to support these needs. “We are seeing an increasing number of breakout rooms being incorporated into office designs to allow employees to hold confidential meetings. And these rooms are not dark monotone rooms, but they are rather designed using glass walls set in aluminium or steel frames,” says Bish.
Pod meeting rooms can complement an office design by providing a quiet space in an open plan office area, says Parrott. “You can also create areas for private talks by using two high back sofas in front of each other. This can keep noise to a minimum both inside and around the meeting space.”
Collaborative work environments aren’t built simply by putting people next to one another. An appropriately designed office should combine both the collaborative and privacy requirements of its users. “Communication and the quality of interaction is the focus of a smart collaborative open plan space without mitigating privacy and the opportunity to concentrate. Here employees choose zones and areas best suited to their activities,” says McKeown.
With markets flooded with space-saving, modular furniture, what all companies need is planning and creativity to turn their offices into truly functional workspaces. “Using the right furniture and assessing the true needs of your staff, it is possible to create an environment which promotes workplace balance and harmony, even in the diverse and fast-paced UAE business markets,” says McKeown.
Innovative solutions
Flexible off-the-shelf furniture such as long-shared desks with mobile pedestals, are now replacing single workstations. Offices are investing in modular systems to increase office floor space so that employees can move around freely. “Companies are also considering green features and options when procuring furniture. For example, a number of leading furniture manufacturers are adopting a Cradle to Cradle model that ensures that all materials used have no negative effects on the environment and can be used in continuous cycles as the same product without losing their integrity or quality,” says Bish.
Technology integration is a major buzzword in the office design industry and the success of any activity-based workplace depends on how companies can seamlessly integrate technology with the overall design of the workplace. With offices in the UAE rapidly adopting the Bring Your Own Devices trend and cloud computing, designers are looking at providing innovative solutions that can link smartphones, laptops to company computing resources and enhance operational efficiency and flexibility.
“A number of offices are now opting for a shared workspace or hot desking so that employees have the freedom to choose their environment based on the requirements of their current task. This not only reduces real estate costs but also improves employee satisfaction and productivity,” says Bish.