The office landscape has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. With increasing commercial property prices, the average amount of office space has drop to 150 square foot in comparison to around 400 square foot in 1985, leading facilities managers to look into alternative, cost-effective ways of working. As a result of this remote working, hot desking and open plan offices have all become commonplace.
Open plan offices can look incredible, capitalise on available space and reinforce flexible working policies. However, the noise pollution that is often commonplace with open plan layouts is often overlooked in the initial design phases of office refurbishment projects.
On the plus side, open plan offices create a strong foundation for collaborative working, but when it comes to individual work, this can often be a distracting environment to work in. A recent study by Steelcase indicated that employees were craving privacy with 85% out of 10,000 workers stating that they were dissatisfied with their working environment and couldn’t concentrate.
The cost of distraction:
11 mins for interruptions. When we try to work on a project, we get interrupted every 11 minutes (on average).
23 mins to return to FLOW. When we get interrupted, it takes us up to 23 minutes to get back into FLOW —the state where we’re deeply engaged.
…Resulting in an estimated £52-70 billion to the British economy.
In an office without walls, it’s hard to break up the office and prevent the noise level from getting too high. Everyone works differently, and we think it’s so important to accommodate this. Those who might be a little more introverted or prefer to work individually from time to time, need to be given a space to complete their work to their best ability.
In order to combat this, we would suggest separating the office into zones that your people can move around in throughout the day. If you have already moved into your new shiny open plan workspace, fear not. This can be achieved with furniture, moveable meeting pods and acoustic screens that absorb the excessive noise from around the room.
We have been reviewing some of our favourite pieces that help the acoustics of the office. We often implement these within open plan offices to make the noise levels more manageable by absorbing and blocking unwanted noise.
Tryst acoustic meeting pod
This range of armchairs and sofas provide a sanctuary for personal privacy and contemplation or social interaction within busy offices and public spaces. With a wide variety of fabrics, colours and textures, Tryst can also aesthetically coordinate or contrast with a wide variety of architectural landscapes. Tryst sofas placed facing one another form a small, intimate meeting area – a place of refuge. The high backs provide optical and acoustic screening as well as partitioning elements.
Chemistry bank of standing desks
Chemistry is based around a pair of horizontal beams which provide a robust structure and a continuous fixing method for all furniture elements. Legs, screens, wire management, work surfaces and accessories can be attached at any point along the beams regardless of desk module. This range is available as a standing desk system, which is what we use ourselves at Posture People HQ! This gives us the flexibility to separately stand up, or sit down at our bench system. The electric height adjustability on our Chemistry range also means that we can raise the desks to suit all of our staff, small or tall and can be fitted with acoustic screens for privacy and noise reduction.
The Acoustic phone hood
If you find yourself often needing to step away from the desk and make phone calls, then we recommend the acoustic phone hood from Screen Solutions. Made with specialist fabrics, this product is has an acoustic class B rating to help you manage noisy spaces and give those that need to take a call, a bit more privacy.
Orangebox Airea acoustic pod
The Airea range from Orangebox can be assembled to provide a pod meeting room in just a few hours. This is also a moveable room solution so when your business requires it can moved and fully re-used whether this is moving it to another position in the same workspace or a completely new building location. This not only enables you to divide up your workplace zones effectively but also create space for private conversations and meetings
The Haven meeting pod
The Haven upholstery system is the foundation of the entire Haven family of products that comprises of sofas, stools, tables, screens and pods that support the drive towards a location free, collaborative working environment. Haven comprises of modular elements including arm chairs and sofas, all of which are available with and without a headrest. Haven can provide excellent personal privacy, a haven, within a busy world. A place for either contemplation or communication amongst a team.
Flexiform noise absorbing tambour units (acoustic back)
Flexiform, have introduced a series of sound absorbing acoustic tambours designed to reduce the impact of environmental noise in the workplace. All of their acoustic tambours are rated OLw to EN ISO 11654:1997: 0.75(L) for noise absorption and provide lots of vital storage for open plan offices.
Herman Miller Kivo
The combination of a lightweight steel skeleton and simple magnetic tiles allows the system to be moved and reconfigured with ease. As required, different areas can be designed and redesigned over and over again in a range of shapes and sizes. The Herman Miller Kivo range is made to simply move and adapt when floor plans change: an approach that is driven by the evolving workplace.
Cubbi
Designed to occupy a modest footprint and to be located in the open plan, Cubbi is an oasis of privacy in an increasingly frenetic workplace. Cubbi is a fantastic solution to individuals that are often distracted by the demands of an open plan office.
If you have a noise issue if your workspace, please get in touch for additional advice. The products seen above are all available from Posture People , however we have many more tailored solutions that are only available on request. Leave us a comment below or email enquiries@posturepeople.co.uk for additional information!
