Creating Workspaces to Bring Employees and Their Ideas Together

Creating Workspaces to Bring Employees and Their Ideas Together

Designing an office and creating workspaces that spark ideas and innovation is different than creating ones based solely on square footage and placement of workstations.

To get the most from your work environment, think of the office as more than a facility and a collection of desks.

Think of it as a collision center.

Here’s why.

How to Measure the Value of an Office

Offices in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Irvine and around Ontario aren’t cheap. For the foreseeable future, many employees will work remotely for at least one or two days per week. The amount of money you’re paying per square foot could seem like a waste of money. You may want to get out of a lease if you have one or downsize in some other way.

Create workspaces that become a place of engagement. Unused spaces could be places for new opportunities.

Consider how the environment is currently set up, and see if it really brings about the interactions that can propel your company forward to meet your specific goals.

The value of an office is more than what you pay for—it’s how the space is planned and whether or not it allows for people coming together easily and naturally.

The work environment can be engineered to bring about desired outcomes.

The Office as a Casual Communication Tool

In recent decades, there have been some interior design changes in buildings such as open ceilings where the duct work is visible among others. In comparison, the tools we use to work have changed drastically.

Even though surveys show people enjoy the benefits of remote working, creating workspaces that leverage the power of community and allow casual conversation will always be attractive to employees.


Photo: Allermuir Jinx Lounge

Why casual?

Imagine you’re working on a project and you feel stymied. When you pause to take a break, you get up for a drink or a snack and your mind relaxes.

During a casual conversation with another team member, you might bring up the problem while you’re away from the pressure of the moment. You’re not tense, and solutions come to mind.

An article in the Harvard Business Review, “Workspaces that Move People,” notes that “The team’s break area becomes a crucial collision space. At one call center, the company expanded the break room and gave reps more time to hang out there with colleagues. Paradoxically, productivity shot up after the change. Away from their phones, the reps could circulate knowledge within the group.”

Creating Workspaces with Collision Spaces

Office spaces that bring co-workers together in face-to-face interactions are known as “collision spaces.”

The seemingly informal areas allow for a free flow of dialogue and help people process. In a more formal setting, like a conference room during a team meeting, stronger personalities, or those with authoritative titles, often rule the day—and the outcomes.


Photo: Stylex Open Office Lounge and Workstation

Many times, employees don’t speak up because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing in front of others.

However, in a place where someone can sit and relax with a pad of paper and pen, or easily cradle a laptop, there’s less pressure to perform.

The placement of furniture is one way to create an informal, collaborative area that leads to brainstorming.

Photo: OFS Kintra Table, Stylex Free Address 2.0 Open Office and Global River Lounge

Have comfortable lounge chairs with plenty of personal space between each one, but stagger the direction they’re facing. Use furnishings that are easy to re-arrange so chairs can be brought closer together or turned away from each other for maximum privacy.

Take a new approach with cubicles.

The Benefits of Today’s Cubicles

Casual conversations don’t only have to occur in informal areas.

Departments can plan collaborative spaces using the many solutions that encourage focused communication. Say you have workstations attached together in pods, like the HON Adobe Workstation.


Photo: HON Abound Workstation

And rather than have a more formal conference room, you have one cubicle that’s set apart for sessions that can either be planned or take place on the spur-of-the-moment.

You can set up a cubicle that has plenty of space for a table and a few chairs. The Friant System 2 Workstation is a good example. Panels can be installed so that there are three walls and an opening, so it has privacy with a friendly feeling.


Photo: Friant Systems 2 Workspace

When space is planned for effective interactions, then the office can become a desirable destination. Work and meetings can be done remotely, but the missing ingredient, notes the International Association of Independent Accounting Firms, is the ability to have those prized moments of unexpected, but useful, conversation.

It’s a way to capture the entrepreneurial spirit and keep morale high. The office becomes a center for synergy that lead to solutions and positive outcomes.

Get an Expert Perspective on Creating Workspaces

Arrange your office to get the maximum amount of productivity from your employees when creating workspaces for your different departments. The team at 2010 Office Furniture has more than 50 years of experience planning spaces for corporations, centers of higher education and small-to-medium sized businesses in Southern California.

Contact them to share about your possible needs and projects.

Read Also: Designing an Office to Support Your Employees
Main Photo: National Mio Table
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: Allermuir, Friant, HON, National, OFS, & Stylex

Office Trends that Keep Employees Engaged and Productive

Office Trends that Keep Employees Engaged and Productive

When surveying current office trends, one must consider that life is now much more open in Southern California with fewer health concerns surrounding Covid-19. But the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health still has restrictions on office space capacity as of May 2021. Up to 75% occupancy was noted in the guidelines for re-opening.

This makes the hybrid office a model that’s here to stay for months and possibly years to come.

How do you make it continue to work?

Plan your spaces, set expectations with employees, and stay true to your brand.

Office Trends to Accommodate Remote Workers

How many of you have used Zoom, or even knew about it, before March 2020?

“Let’s Zoom” became a verb phrase as widely used as “Google it” – making it one of the biggest office trends that blew up in 2020.

The need for online interaction with remote workers is a reality. If you need to video conference with staff or clients, then use the latest in architectural walls to have a pleasant atmosphere and reduce distractions for others working in the office.

Check office furnishing solutions like the OFS Obeya Architectural Structures for a nice business casual feel.


Photo: OFS Obeya Architectural Structures

Trendway makes an appealing line of modular walls to define your meeting spaces where you can place monitors and tables.


Photo: Trendway Clearwall Space Divider

If employees are working remotely, recommend the use of ergonomic chairs and height adjustable desks to reduce physical strains.

When your team knows that they’re supported then they’re going to be more engaged and invested in creating positive results.

Form Workstation Neighborhoods

One of the strongest office trends that still continues to evolve today is to make the office a destination where people want to be in. One of the benefits of working in the office and not just at home is that employees can socialize. After all, even though people need privacy and personal space, we don’t want to be alone.

Consider this analogy. Visualize the corporate office as a city and departments as neighborhoods.

What do most neighborhoods have in Southern California?

Their own parks, grocery stores and restaurants. They have a unique identity.

Depending on the company’s size and floor space that’s available, consider each area having:

  • Modular workstations or work pods with individual spaces
  • Digital or moveable whiteboards
  • A dedicated video conferencing room

Each space can even have its own small refrigerator, a little perk that can be used to keep drinks cool.

Creating identifiable workspaces can help your team have a feeling of ownership in their area.

De-Centralize Decision Making

During the months of Covid when office spaces were mostly closed, many executives took decision making into their own hands. After all, leaders need to lead. Key decisions were often made without feedback from stakeholders.

Plan your office space so decision-making can be delegated.

Use cubicle workstations designed for smaller meetings or define meeting areas with modular walls or accessories like whiteboards and a bit of nature.


Photo: Nevins Leaf Living Wall

Design to Boost Morale

Take to heart the lyrics from the former pop group the 5th Dimension: “Let the sun shine, let the sunshine in.”

They’re wise words for office managers and executives planning layouts. Natural light boosts moods and productivity, in light, airy spaces that people crave and love.


Photo: OFS Eleven Wood Table and Bistro Chair

Bring in as much natural light as possible to improve morale and create a pleasing workspace.

Other ways to bring in nature includes using a variety of office plants. This is especially useful in open office plans where cubicles divide individual workstations.

Use wall panels that hold succulents or other appropriate plants.

A study quoted on CNBC.com notes that, “People who kept a small plant on their desk had lower levels of anxiety and stress at the end of a four-week period. Researchers instructed 63 participants who worked a full-time desk job to take a three-minute break when they felt ‘fatigued’ to tend to, water and gaze at a desk plant.”

It was a Japanese study and the most popular plants chosen were Japanese Kokedamas and succulents.

Office trends in fostering little morale boosters can go a long way in easing stress, improving office relationships, and increasing productivity.

Office Trends with the Corporate Personality in Mind

Your company has a brand, or personality, just like the people who work there. Use a cohesive design for a unified appearance that’s fresh and sets a positive tone.

There are plenty of office trends options to make an office space have a look and feel that fits with your goals. Our moods are certainly influenced by our environment.

Look for a variety of shapes in available lounge furniture and use a family of colors on panel dividers.

Office designs have their own special histories.

Office Trends: The Abstract Modern Office
This interior design style became popular in the 20th century. It seems to break rules but provides plenty of comfort and functionality.

Office Trends: The Modern Industrial Office
This design approach is minimalist and is fairly neutral with subdued colors. It honors the transition from handcrafted goods to mass manufacturing.

Office Trends: The Open Plan Benching and Desking
The goal is promoting collaboration in an office without permanent walls while at the same time allowing private spaces.


Photo: OFS Eleven Workspace

Get Expert Input on Office Trends

See if your office is ready for office trends that accommodate remote employees for the long term while equipping in-house employees. Get input from the team at 2010 Office Furniture.

The company has more than 50 years of experience working with the most distinguished corporations, centers of higher education, and growing small businesses throughout Southern California.

Contact us with your questions and needs.

Read Also: 6 Reasons to Use a Resimercial Design for Your Office
Main Photo: National Alloy Workstation
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: National, Nevins, Trendway & OFS