How do we reconcile the need for both privacy and collaboration in the office?

Each of us has a unique preference regarding the nature of our work environment. Some of us need quiet to work at our best. Some of us need a little bit of sound and energy to find flow. Many of us like a mix of different environments, or office acoustics, throughout the day. What the ‘ideal’ work environment looks and feels like is a subjective matter.

So how do we reconcile these varying preferences by the design of the office?

Variety is the key.

The office must be fitted with a variety of meeting and working spaces that give employees the freedom to choose how and where they work.

Variety is precisely where the open office fails.

 

How the open office fails to provide the optimal working environments

No space dedicated to small meetings

The traditional open office doesn’t have adequate meeting spaces, pods, or booths sized for small groups. This means the conference room represents the only option for a place to meet. Small teams must awkwardly flood a space far too large for their group. The result? A struggle to create that intimate atmosphere needed to enable the alignment that marks a successful meeting.

No place to call our ‘own’

For introverts and generally reserved people, this problem is emotionally resonant. There is no space in the open office to isolate ourselves from others and work alone in total concentration — such as an isolation booth. Without a personal workspace, employees feel they have insufficient ownership and authority. This creates anxiety, nervousness, and subtle frustration. To relax into work a person needs to feel at home in their environment.

No privacy

Important calls, deep work, and private conversations all deserve the quiet and dignity a privacy pod or space offers. Not surprisingly, 95% of employees report that privacy is important. Incidentally, a lack of privacy is the open office’s foremost characteristic.

When each keystroke and phone notification can be heard from across the room, workers feel monitored and stressed. When privacy can’t be found anywhere in the office — such as within an acoustic privacy booth — the staff also begins to feel like they have no support. It’s valuable to note that having back-up and support is a vital factor in work satisfaction.

Privacy is critical for phone calls. Without the right office acoustics to reduce office noise and enclose the call, making important calls at work is an uncomfortable if not impossible task. The same is true for many standard work functions: discussing confidential information with a teammate, closing a deal with a prospect, or sharing personal matters with a close colleague. Private work deserves a private space. Unfortunately, only 40% of the workforce report having the right conditions for private work.

Distraction

Distraction in the open office takes a multitude of forms. Consider any kind of stimuli — light, sound, or movement. Because the open office is without soundproofing partitions or pods to compartmentalise and block these stimuli, occupants of the space are subject to all the activity around them at once. This includes chatter among co-workers, client calls, and any movement in the distance. The sensory overload that results is devastating to focus. According to a study from Ipsos, we lose an average of 90 minutes of productivity a day to noise and other factors that interfere with our work.

Phone calls are particularly problematic when the office space has no phone pods. Private or confidential information is at risk of being exposed. At the same time, the noise created by the call hinders the concentration of all co-workers within earshot. Decreased concentration results in a productivity decrease of up to 66%. Here, distraction and productivity directly relate.

Lack of options for where to work

Long hours at the computer can be emotionally and physically draining. Sometimes we just need a change of environment to reset and approach our work with fresh energy. Unfortunately, the open office doesn’t provide a variety of work setting options. Without options, employees don’t have the necessary freedom to change environments as fitting to their workflow. Productivity suffers as a result.

Poor morale

Distraction, sensory overload, and lack of privacy and options for where to work all degrade work morale. Healthy socialisation in the office also suffers equally. In fact, contrary to what one might think, open, unbounded offices reduce face to face interaction with a magnitude of about 70%.

How can Hush help?

Hush acoustic pods eliminate the distinctive stressors of the open office space. Each mobile, soundproof booth serves as a free-standing, enclosed workspace for anyone to find focus, collaboration, privacy, comfort, and a sense of ownership over their space.

The beauty of the acoustic soundproofing within each pod is that it delivers the optimal office acoustic level for comfort and focus — not too loud or too quiet (think ambient or white noise). The soundproofing blocks noise and other stimuli in both directions so individuals both within and outside of the pod are liberated to find their focus. That is, without worrying about distracting their colleagues.

Available in a range of sizes, each unit’s interior and exterior colour and frame are customisable and can be equipped with a choice of accessories. Each work pod is also complete with air ventilation, a power module, and adjustable light.

Hush Meet: A Mobile Meeting Pod

Hush Meet provides the perfect meeting space for 2 or 4 people. For brainstorming sessions, interviews, or small group collaborations, Hush Meet is a model solution. It can be thought of as a mobile conference booth — and an economical alternative to building a permanent conference or meeting room.

Hush Phone: the soundproof booth for phone calls and standing work

Hush Phone is a compact office phone booth for individuals to comfortably hold private calls and video conferences. Its standing height fold-out laptop shelf coupled with the ergonomic armrest means private conversations can be carried out in absolute ease. The pod takes up less than 1 square meter of space but protects the concentration of all.

Hush Work: the privacy pod for solo work

Hush Work is a sound isolation booth that offers the ultimate retreat from non-stop activity in the open office. It serves as an independent workspace outfitted with a height-adjustable desk for focused, solo work. The acoustic panels lining the work pod eliminate distractions and lend privacy. This allows the user to feel relaxed in the space — like it was made just for them. Hush Work users can connect their music to the unit’s Bluetooth speaker, tune out the dynamism of the office, and tune into work.

The office space needs to be as dynamic as we are

If we envision an office that provides for the needs of our employees, we must remember that these needs are dynamic. Preferences change. Tasks vary. Teams grow — unpredictably. That’s why the office needs to be dynamic, too — able to adapt to unforeseeable, changing needs by its design.

Hush pods provide exactly that: adaptability. They are completely mobile. They don’t need to be disassembled to be relocated. They are a fixed asset — proving to be an economical and efficient alternative to building a permanent structure. Each Hush portable sound booth pod makes work in the open office make sense again.

 

Blog via Hush Team

Huntoffice Interiors are a Distributor for Hushoffice for Hush | Mikomax Smart Office