Most office workers relish the opportunity to personalize their cubicles, but some people also feel restricted in those small spaces. What happens if employees get the run of the entire office, but no particular space of their own?
The New York office of the Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), a consulting firm, converted to such a setup recently. Its 250 employees were each given a locker, a laptop, and told to get to work anywhere they wanted.
According to Business Insider, this is the largest-scale implementation of activity-based working in the U.S. Activity-based working is a Dutch theory about office work, which states that workers will be happiest and most productive if they can work in a variety of different spaces based on the task they're performing.
For instance, you might start out the day collaborating with co-workers in a conference space and then move to a more-private space to work on your own.
The space was also engineered to create better space for hosting clients. Now, instead of taking clients out to restaurants, GLG can entertain them in their actual offices.
When Business Insider went into the office, they spoke with a few of the employees about how the new layout is working.
"I definitely find that moving around helps me get work done," systems analyst Mike Martin said. "I feel like I'm a dynamic person who can work in a loud environment, but there are definitely days where you want to duck off into a telephone booth and sort of dive into the task at hand."
It seems that employees were worried about the change, and about being deprived of the ability to personalize their offices. But Clive Wilkinson, who designed the new space, posits that the need for personalization comes from the fact that workplaces have historically been less than comfortable. By creating a more welcoming space, he said, it removes the need to decorate the office.
Personal items are stored in employees' individual lockers, which are organized into clusters by departments.
GLG's human resources department reports that the biggest complaint they've had so far is from women who don't know where to put the extra pairs of shoes they change in and out of during the day, and this problem was solved by the allocation of a closet for footwear.
Check out this video from GLG about the new space
Related Stories
| May 28, 2014
KPF's dual towers in Turkey will incorporate motifs, symbols of Ottoman Empire
The two-building headquarters for Turkey’s largest and oldest financial institution, Ziraat Bank, is inspired by the country’s cultural heritage.
| May 28, 2014
B.R. Fries completes medical center focused on male health
Occupying the building’s entire second floor, the male-centric center is honeycombed with examination and consultation rooms, as well as areas for noninvasive testing.
| May 28, 2014
Moshe Safdie's twin residential towers in Singapore will be connected by 'sky pool' 38 stories in the air [slideshow]
Moshe Safdie's latest project, a pair of 38-story luxury residential towers in Singapore, will be linked by three "sky garden" bridges, including a rooftop-level bridge with a lap pool running the length between the two structures.
| May 27, 2014
Supergreen Venter lab displayed in new walk-through video
ZGF Architects' La Jolla building for genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter and his nonprofit research organization aims to be the first net-zero energy, carbon-neutral biological lab.
| May 27, 2014
America's oldest federal public housing development gets a facelift
First opened in 1940, South Boston's Old Colony housing project had become a symbol of poor housing conditions. Now the revamped neighborhood serves as a national model for sustainable, affordable multifamily design.
| May 27, 2014
One World Trade Center cuts rents due to sluggish activity
Sluggish economy and lackluster leasing force developer The Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to reduce asking rents by nearly 10% to $69/sf.
| May 27, 2014
Fire Rated Glass contributes to open lab environment at JSNN
Openness and transparency were high priorities in the design of the Joint School of Nanoscience & Nanoengineering within the Gateway University Research Park in Greensboro, N.C. Because the facility’s nanobioelectronics clean room houses potentially explosive materials, it needed to be able to contain flames, heat, and smoke in the event of a fire. SPONSORED CONTENT
| May 27, 2014
What are your services worth?
The price, cost, and value of design services are explored in a recent Design Intelligence article authored by Scott Simpson, a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council. Value, he explains, represents the difference between “price” and “cost.” SPONSORED CONTENT
| May 27, 2014
Contractors survey reveals improving construction market
The construction industry is on the road to recovery, according to a new survey by Metal Construction News. Most metrics improved from the previous year’s survey, including a 19.4% increase in the average annual gross contracting sales volume. SPONSORED CONTENT
| May 27, 2014
How to develop a dynamic referral system
Compelling your clients to provide you with quality referrals is one of the best ways to build a successful business. Here are ways to ‘train’ your clients to make quality referrals. SPONSORED CONTENT