Unilever’s redesign of its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey includes open ‘connect zones’ for conversation, relaxation or informal meetings. PHOTO: PERKINS+WILL/GARRETT ROWLAND
Many have mourned the loss of private offices since employers started tearing down office walls years ago.
Now companies are planning a new surprise: They’re taking away your desk, too.
Employers are replacing traditional one-desk-per-employee setups with a smaller number of first-come, first-served desks, plus additional workspaces with names like huddle rooms and touchdown spaces. Some 25% of employers are placing at least some employees in unassigned seating, and 52% of the rest plan to do so within three years, according to a recent survey of 138 employers by the real estate services firm CBRE and CoreNet Global, a real estate professional group.
While some employees embrace the flexibility and casual ambience of unassigned seating, losing a desk is a wrenching change for others. Getting used to it requires time, some give-and-take by employers and often a little etiquette training.
The Minneapolis offices of the architecture firm Perkins + Will shifted to unassigned seating two years ago, offering 52 adjustable sit-stand desks for the 70 employees there. The firm offered more seats in conference rooms, smaller huddle rooms, workbenches and a cafe. The setup makes it easy for teams to work closely together and gather around shared project files in different areas, workplace director Lisa Pool says.
Companies also are taking a cue from the co-working spaces popular among young workersby adding a variety of seating and décor, says Kate Lister, research chair of an International Facility Management Association committee on the evolving workplace. The new designs “give people all these places and spaces to work—some quiet, some for group work or socializing,” she says.