With more companies adopting a hybrid workplace strategy for their offices, many employees feel lost and find it harder to adapt to the change. However, there are many ways to help people readjust to the new environment. Developing office neighborhoods is one of the more popular solutions.
An office neighborhood is a type of seating arrangement to help organize your office. It allows teams with similar workplace needs to be together in one allotted area. There are various ways to go about implementing this type of strategy:
- Functional Neighborhoods: employees grouped together based on their department (ex., sales, marketing, finance, etc.).
- Project-Based: teams comprised of employees across various departments based on a specific project’s needs.
- Activity-Based: various work settings where employees have different options to complete day-to-day tasks based on the type of work they need to perform.
- Amenities-Based: specific equipment is designated to a particular area where it can be easily accessed when needed.
No matter which type of neighborhood you implement, there will be significant benefits for everyone within the space, such as:
Greater Opportunity for Collaboration
Collaboration is key to a dynamic work environment. With many employees working from home, working together to create a team project is difficult. Having specific areas within the office allows the same team or various team members to come together and collaborate on specific projects. These spaces can also have acoustical properties, helping with concentration or privacy.
Increased Productivity
Having specific employees on the same team seated together is a simple way to increase their productivity for daily work. It’s much easier for teams to collaborate when they sit near each other. Grouping specific teams together also allow for a decrease in noise and outside distractions, therefore increasing productivity.
Employee Connection
As we all know, the past few years have decreased our connection with others, especially while working from home. People gain those connections back with their co-workers by utilizing neighborhoods and increasing workplace wellness. Office neighborhoods can not only affect work production but benefit the employee’s mental health.
Office neighborhoods, tailored to your employee’s needs, allow the same teams or different departments the flexibility to come together and get their work done more efficiently and on time. Implementing this workplace strategy can expert workplace strategy team be daunting, especially when so many variations exist. Partnering with an expert workplace strategy team, like HF Planners, is essential. We come to your space, learn about your challenges, and collaborate with you to develop the perfect solution for you and, most importantly, your team.
