Article – Workplace: Advantages and disadvantages of the different workspaces

Depending on the type of company, and the generations, three different trends in office design emerged. These trends have a direct impact on the efficiency and commitment of the tam members. With the global pandemic, a new type of workspace has become popular: working at home.

Closed offices, open spaces, collaborative spaces, and remote working office are the four different categories we have determined.

After defining each one of the four workspaces, we will give the advantages, and disadvantages of each one and solutions to remedy the situation in our new article.⬇️

 

• Closed office:

Definition:

This type of workspace is generally reserved for professionals with a high hierarchical level or who work with confidential information daily. The closed office spaces have thus several advantages and are suitable.

Advantages:

•  Benefit from audio and visual privacy,
•  Have nearby storage: to store all the documents,
•  Appropriate the space: add your own personal touch – such as family photos, plants, frames, and so on,
• Positive feeling of hierarchy,
• Organize meetings directly at the office.

Despite all of these advantages, closed offices also have negative aspects, as we will explain right below.

Disadvantages:

• Less profitability of the space: requires more surface area because of the partitions/walls,
• Feeling separated from the others: it can result in a lack of interactions,
• Less specific knowledge transfer: the team also tend to talk about some ongoing projects, and you can miss this information if you are isolated from them,
• Extended static position: because you have everything you need at hand,
• View and natural lighting: not everyone will benefit from an outside view and natural lighting. Being “locked” within four walls can be pretty complicated.

Solutions:

• Shared office,
• Shared meeting room,
• Hybrid workspace,
• Glass walls,
• Convivial meeting zones.

 

• Open spaces:

Definition:

This type of workspace has become extensively popular in the last years. At open spaces, professionals have their own assigned desktop, but without four walls for each one that separate from the rest of the team.

Read right below to discover the advantages of working at open spaces.

Advantages:

• Easier and more efficient teamwork: better communication and collaboration thanks to the proximity,
• Profitability of the space: you don’t lose space because of partitions or walls,
• Specific knowledge transfer: you can hear the conversations about ongoing projects and their progress in real time,
• Egalitarian hierarchy,
• Natural lighting.

Open spaces have many advantages, as we have seen, but there are also a few disadvantages.

Disadvantages:

• Acoustics and lack of productivity: many people in the room cause a lot of noise,
• Less confidentiality,
• Loss of the feeling of high hierarchy level.

Solutions:

• Client area to allow confidential exchanges,
• Phone booths for call phones,
• Calm rooms for when you need to concentrate and think calmly,
• Divided areas in the open space to limit the noise,
• Use sound-absorbing material: acoustic separator, rug, acoustic ceiling, sound masking system, etc.

 

• Collaborative spaces:

Definition:

The third type of workspace is the collaborative space. It is trendy and divide people: some would never go back to another workspace and others are very sceptical. Collaboratives spaces are unassigned desktops. You can thus decide where to go base on your needs: concentration, collaboration, sharing, learning, and so on. This is the activity based workplace.

Advantages:

• Autonomy and mobility lead to more motivation, creativity, innovation, and commitment,
• Flexibility of the space ease the company’s expansion and growth,
• Ergonomics: changing areas through the day and changing postures according to your needs,
• Better cohesion between the team,
• Specific knowledge transfer,
• Profitability of the space,
• Natural lighting.

We will now present the disadvantages of collective spaces.

Disadvantages:

• Acoustics and lack of productivity: due to a lot of noise,
• Less confidentiality,
• Loss of personal space,
• Loss of the feeling of high hierarchy level.

Solutions:

• Client area to allow confidential exchanges,
• Calm rooms for when you need to concentrate and think calmly,
• Divided areas and phone booths to limit the noise,
• Use sound-absorbing material: acoustic separator, rug, acoustic ceiling, sound masking system, etc.

 

• Remote working office:

Definition:

Remote working has skyrocketed due to the global pandemic. Although we are at home, we need to gather all the necessary conditions to create a work environment favourable to concentration, collaboration, and communication.

Advantages:

• Autonomy and flexibility,
• Costs and time savings,
• Better balance between personal and professional lives,
• More creativity and productivity,
• Less stress.

Remote working also has negative aspects, as we will explain below.

Disadvantages:

• Feeling of solitude and isolation,
• Loss of sense of belonging,
• Loss of sense of support and supervision,
• Interruption from family members,
• Loss of barrier between personal and professional lives.

Solutions:

• Dedicate a space for working hours,
• Disconnect at night and during weekends,
• Communicate with the team every day,
• Organize videoconferences,
• Alternate between remote working and the office.

 

As we have seen in this article, the four different types of workspaces have thus advantages and disadvantages. The good part is that it exists several solutions to solve these issues.

Another option can be to mix these different organizations together with two days of remote working a week and convert different areas at the office to meet the professionals’ needs depending on their missions.

IWMS (Integrated Workplace Management System) are a great tool to manage and reconcile these different work organizations. It is an adapted and customized software solution to manage your facilities. Do you need more information? Check our website here: https://bit.ly/3iPYFKU 🔗