How to empower employees in an open office

The open office deprives workers of autonomy on several levels.

With the elimination of all walls, partitions and dividers, office noise is a hindering force that prevents over-focusing. While noise is a notorious external factor, other environmental conditions (such as ventilation and lighting) are also problematic. Each of these factors can affect feelings of well-being. And each is placed in a completely open office, out of the control of the employees.

Without solutions such as sound-absorbing privacy dispensers, employees feel they are being monitored or micromanaged (even when they are not). This typical experience screams "lack of spatial autonomy." Employees need privacy in order to work. They also need to feel trusted, rather than micromanaged, which comes with this tolerance for private space. They need autonomy. Without the various available workspaces, they are confined to a desk all day. Here, the main evil of office ergonomics exacerbates the psychological problem of insufficient autonomy: being deprived of the freedom to move.

Employees who have the right to control their work have the right to find their own personal flow in the tasks and in the office space itself. With this freedom, the best work can be carried out in the happiest way possible.

Offices that are mostly open but with plenty of private space enjoy the most productive employees. This is because employees in these spaces can enjoy the office experience due to the variety of working environments available in the office (work pods, collaboration areas, work cafes, soundproof rooms, etc.). For those who have invested in 'openness' and have been disappointed by the returns, this insight is encouraging - the open office is not entirely flawed; the concept of 'openness' only needs to be weighed against the need for 'closedness'. The concept of "openness" only needs to be weighed against the need to be "closed". "Closed" is what the office pod offers.

Work pods (or office cubicles) give employees the freedom to move freely throughout the day to suit their tasks, energy levels and moods. While having the basic benefits of autonomy alone, this freedom of movement offers clear ergonomic and health benefits.

Financially, it makes sense to complete the "pod" approach to the open plan office. Each pod is a one-off investment, offering countless layout configurations for the future. Best of all, they can be repositioned without disassembly and can be extended by simply adding more modules. Unlike conference rooms and office suites, they are not fixed or permanent, but adaptable to change.

This flexibility equates to complete control over the design of your office space. You can move and expand pods as quickly as you need to, without having to lock into a structure that is no longer useful as your team grows or changes dynamically.