The term “office neighborhoods” or “workplace neighborhoods” has become increasingly common over the last few months. Business leaders struggle to define the “future workplace” and what it should entail on a massive scale.
While hybrid and remote work initiatives have delivered benefits like improved productivity, employee engagement, and reduced operational costs, companies still don’t know how to manage their teams. Return-to-office mandates are increasing, and even significant leaders in the flexible workspace, like Zoom, are rethinking their workplace structure.
Combining hybrid work with agile and collaborative elements, office neighborhoods could become the next major workplace trend. Here’s everything you need to know.
What are Office Neighborhoods? The Basics
Office or workplace neighborhoods are agile environments designed to help employees collaborate and function as a group. They’re similar to “hot desking” environments but with more support and structure offered by the company or building owner.
With an office neighborhood, employees get access to traditional office spaces with flexible layouts. The concept combines the best part of private spaces, such as quiet zones, with open-plan shared spaces for team meetings and collaboration.
The idea behind office neighborhoods is pretty straightforward. People tend to perform better when surrounded by individuals with complementary skills and mindsets. For instance, engineers can accomplish more when they bounce ideas off a designer.
Building on the hybrid work model, office neighborhoods give employees more freedom over how they want to work daily. Employees can collaborate in an open lounge area or focus on complex work in a private room. The result is a more flexible space that ensures employees are always equipped with everything they need for productivity and collaboration.
What Does an Workplace Neighborhood Contain?
Like the coworking spaces introduced before the pandemic, an office neighborhood features shared resources. It may include shared desks, phone booths, communal areas, and meeting rooms. Each “office neighborhood” will have its own local amenities, similar to a city neighborhood.
While most environments will include essential tools, like video conferencing hardware and software, phones, and computers, areas may also be designated for specific roles.
Office neighborhoods can also be structured in a variety of ways, such as:
- Team-specific office neighborhoods: Environments designed with specific business functions in mind. For instance, an office neighborhood for an advertising team might include solutions for social media management, content creation, and graphic design.
- Activity-based neighborhoods: These neighborhoods prioritize work type over specific job roles. For instance, quiet zones may be set aside for high-focus activities like data analysis, while meeting spaces may be designated for collaboration.
- Open-seating office neighborhoods: With these environments, the focus is on unrestricted collaboration. Cubicles and assigned seats are removed, allowing teams to collaborate freely between departments and environments.
Office Neighborhoods vs Agile Working and ABW
Workplace neighborhoods might seem like a new trend, but are similar to workplace concepts. As mentioned above, office neighborhoods can help companies embrace a new form of hybrid work, where people can choose the ideal environment they need for each task.
Workplace neighborhoods also have similarities with agile working and activity-based working (ABW) concepts. With agile working, companies give employees comprehensive freedom in their working lives, allowing them to choose their shifts and working environments.
Activity-based working supports the agile working concept. It involves building a new office environment that allows employees to decide how, when, and where to work. Activity-based working aims to align the workplace design and size with the needs of employees.
Office neighborhoods support agile, hybrid, and activity-based working. They combine different workstations, support spaces, and collaborative environments to enhance employee experiences.
The Benefits of Office Neighborhoods
Since the pandemic, companies have experimented with flexible working arrangements, from all-remote work to four-day work weeks. The “hybrid working model” is considered the most beneficial for many. Around 38% of companies believe hybrid working has improved their team’s productivity and efficiency.
Hybrid work gives employees the best of both worlds: the flexibility of remote working and the ability to make real-life connections with colleagues. However, fewer hours in an actual workplace means fewer opportunities for ad-hoc interactions.
The “office environment” needs to become more dynamic and flexible to ensure teams can continue to build camaraderie effectively. That’s where office neighborhoods come in.
Perhaps the most significant benefits of office neighborhoods include:
1. Improved Collaboration
Collaboration is the key to a successful workplace. While solutions like Microsoft Teams and Zoom help to encourage collaboration between remote workers, there are some limitations. Often, the benefits of collaboration are enhanced when people can interact face-to-face.
In office neighborhoods, people don’t just get the opportunity to interact with their own team members. They can also connect with staff members from different environments. They also get to choose when and how they collaborate with colleagues.
2. Improved Productivity
While remote workers can be more productive than their counterparts when working on specific tasks, their productivity suffers when collaborating with others. Office neighborhoods allow employees to “attend the office” while customizing their experience.
Each team or community gets a space tailored to their needs, offering access to quiet workspaces and collaborative settings. This ensures employees can leverage the environments most conducive to their productivity.
3. Efficient Space Management
Workplace neighborhoods generally require fewer desks and less space than traditional offices. Every employee doesn’t necessarily need a permanent workstation. This means companies can reduce their real-estate costs and use their budget elsewhere.
Business leaders can manage office neighborhoods with desk scheduling software, making it easy to ensure everyone has a space when they need it. Plus, this software gives companies insights into how employees utilize the space. Companies can generate better demand forecasts and plan their real estate investment accordingly.
4. Happier Employees
Happy employees are more productive employees. As a result, many companies are beginning to focus more heavily on keeping teams satisfied and engaged. Office neighborhoods are fluid enough to adapt to any company’s and its teams’ needs.
Businesses can build their entire environment around the requirements of their staff members, ensuring exceptional well-being and employee satisfaction. With access to data, companies can even adapt spaces over time, removing spaces that aren’t useful. If people like their working environment, they’re often more engaged.
5. Cost Savings
As mentioned above, workplace neighborhoods can help companies save money on desks and real estate space. However, they can also lead to cost savings in other ways. Companies can spend less on technology by allowing companies to use their own devices or share equipment.
Office workplaces also help to drive productivity and efficiency, meaning companies can spend less time and money dealing with the side effects of disengaged and distracted staff.
How Companies Can Create Office Neighborhoods
So, how do you build an office neighborhood? It starts with creating a flexible, adaptable space for your team. The best office neighborhoods need to support collaboration and communication between employees. However, they also need to offer all the amenities various teams might need.
Companies must audit their current business environment and list the crucial solutions for a valuable neighborhood. This could mean investing in real estate, hardware, and software.
The core components necessary for any office neighborhood include:
- A physical space: An office neighborhood is a physical space designed to accommodate a variety of workers. The way you structure your space will depend on your business. However, the environment may include meeting rooms, desks, collaborative spaces, lounge environments, and outdoor work areas.
- Role-based hardware and software: Every office neighborhood should include technology tailored to its employees. This could consist of access to design tools for architectural companies, contact center phones, headsets, and digital whiteboards.
- Essential hardware and software: Essential hardware and software includes the resources every employee needs to thrive. Standard components include computers, printers, cameras for video conferencing, communication platforms, phones, and headsets.
- Workplace scheduling software: Workplace scheduling software allows companies to allow employees to book desks, meeting rooms, and other environments when necessary. It also provides access to data to help leaders make decisions that improve the overall office layout and performance.
- Management software: Management software will allow companies to track and manage their office neighborhoods. Options include sensors for tracking the use of spaces, building monitoring tools, and permission-based seating platforms.
The Rise of Office Neighborhoods
The term “workplace neighborhood” or “office neighborhood” is still relatively new. However, companies around the world have already embraced similar workplace structures successfully. For instance, Google and Groupon have created neighborhood environments to provide employees with fun, engaging workspaces.
The GLG group organized its New York headquarters into neighborhoods to pull employees working on similar projects together. Even Microsoft has experimented with neighborhoods through its Workplace Advantage Program.
Although they may not be suitable for every business, office neighborhoods are an excellent way to promote collaboration and unite people. They can boost productivity and drive more positive results from hybrid work initiatives.
If “return to the office” mandates continue and employees start spending less time working from home, office neighborhoods could be the future of the workplace.
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