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New Ways of Working

New Ways of Working

The principle of New Ways is to give people the scope to use the office as they want, as opposed to making people adapt tasks to a desk or a meeting table. It recognizes remote working and the demise of the workstation as the sole place to work.

New ways is the general term covering offices using a mix of hot desks, soft meeting areas, breakout zones, and all other office layouts that don't fit the typical mould of workstations and partitioned rooms.

Alongside the drive to customize offices, companies typically break the rigid link of a desk for every office employee. The freedom created by wireless networking has been a major driver, and the furniture / layout designers have seized on this freedom to develop New Ways of Working.

Research into the working day highlights the varying styles of work that should be fostered by the office.

• Concentration is the predominant style, and typically involves a desk, but can be supported by a quiet area (library) or smaller enclosed space (a booth).

• Collaboration is a significant part of the day. Historically centred on a meeting room, office designers are increasingly placing open and partially enclosed meeting spaces within open plan areas. This works well for less formal or less private meetings, and encourages staff to use meeting spaces transiently.

• Consideration, or room to think, times of the day when inspiration is needed. Designing consideration spaces typically involves higher ceilings or outside space, or creating an area that has fewer boundaries.

• Social Interaction. The office also fulfills an important social function that is a valuable part of being at work. Although social needs are easy to dismiss, many people cite the social side of work as a key reason for being there.

Flexibility is a vital componenet of New Ways. Spaces should no longer have just one purpose, even workstations should incorporate ad hoc expansion and collaboration scope, so that the office supports working, rather than dictating. A subtle change in purpose, with a big impact on the business.

New ways extends to areas such as staff cafes, mixing sustenance with collaboration and consideration, a further example of multi-purpose flexibility.

The Process 

In practice the change to a new style of office has pitfalls. Breaking the link to one man-one desk can appear negative. iorgroup use the possibilities of design as a means to bring the focus onto the positives of opportunity. We work with staff groups to discuss preferences, present options and ideas, getting a consensus on the best features to add in, rather than focusing on the loss of desks.

Excitement generated by a collaborative design process, with creative images and suggestions, builds buy-in and reduces feelings of helplessness that is a natural by-product of change. As well as bringing the design ideas, iorgroup often use the 'visioning' process to create a dialogue within your business.

Summary

New ways is a successful change in office design. Its proven to unshackle people, bridge the workstyles of different generations, and is used as a key agent for change within a company. Often the process is used to reduce property costs, but this misses the wider value to the organisation...increased business performance. Alongside the positives its vital to avoid the pitfalls...any change must be communicated, explained and affirmed in order to get the maximum advantage.

Contact our workplace design specialists for the in-depth explanation of the process and case studies.