Stuck. Stumped. Stagnant.
Stuck at one desk. Stumped by a lack of inspiration. Stagnant during the day. The office shouldn’t make you feel boxed in or limit you in any way. The solution is simpler than it seems – Activity Based Working.
Activity Based Working (ABW) provides people with options, with the freedom to work where they can best do their work. Rather than force people to undertake all their tasks in a single setting, within a designated cubicle or fixed desk, it encourages individuals to locate themselves in an environment most suitable for them to complete each particular work activity. Where you are affects how you work, and how your work affects where you want to be. ABW recognizes this relationship and implements it into the design of an office space. It designates multiple spaces for different workplace activities, including impromptu meetings, brainstorming, formal meetings, intense focused work, and social pow-wows.
ABW creates a better communication atmosphere in the workplace and minimizes the barriers that separate one worker from another.
Such collaboration promotes better performance and encourages more interactions, facilitating both productivity and the sharing and growth of ideas.
Major organizations, like Google and Facebook, are already championing the idea and companies have taken a cue from these market leaders. Activity-Based Working will become the new normal for companies with enough space due to its unique benefits in improving the workplace environment and relationships among employees.
The positive effects of Activity-Based Working include:
Increased collaboration: Activity-based working can increase productive collaboration among members of staff and improve goal accomplishment and quality of work output. All teams of an organization can benefit a great deal from increased collaboration.
Innovation and creative thinking: Employees can easily generate and communicate ideas from one another and participate in brainstorming conversations without undergoing any official or formal set of meetings; this can promote the evolution and creation of more developed ideas.
Mental aptitude and well-being: Enjoying and appreciating your environment helps in lowering stress and can also boost your mood. This positively impacts your mental health, which in turn creates a more creative and productive environment.
Efficient task completion: It can be difficult to focus in an office where everyone is buzzing around. Designated quiet zones give people a place to go when they need to get “in the zone” and power through their tasks and projects.