The Evolving Workplace: Balancing Collaboration & Concentration

Miss that private office? Don’t worry - you’re not alone

In the past 15 years, organizations and employees were persuaded into fully open office strategies with the promise that they increase engagement, encourage more collaboration, and make for happier employees. But that’s not necessarily what happened. Research tells us that open office environments are performing poorly. Why is that, and how do we make these workplaces truly effective?

“People collaborate in diverse ways, however, we haven’t taken the attention to diversity and placed it on focus and concentrative areas, so what we are looking to do is find a hybrid between a collaborative and a more cellular environment,” said Albert de Plazaola, Global Principal Strategy.

We held a panel discussion in our Columbus Studio to discuss just that. See the video below for an excerpt:

"As designers we are trying to find solutions for clients that will support their business and what they do on a day to day basis," says Enza Parella, Principal Design - Strategic Accounts.

In our Form following function white paper, we discuss how modern workplace design has over-prioritised collaboration at the cost of concentration according to findings from our SpaceData research. Click here to read more.