Once upon a time, it was widely believed that the goal of efficiency was to place as many workers as they could in the smallest space possible. Thankfully, there has been a great deal of research indicating that, in fact, the exact opposite is true: People need freedom to work as well as they can, and this is epitomized in this productivity hack for office installation services of breakout areas.
‘Breakout Areas’ are places where employees can leave their desks to work. There are several different types of breakout areas, each serving different purposes; they can be places of collaboration or isolation, depending on the needs of your business.
The common thread among breakout areas is that they’re open to whoever needs them and, most importantly, they provide a different atmosphere to the workers’ desks.
For more, see our article on Community Workspace Furniture.
Breakout Areas can be designed to serve as mini ‘impromptu boardrooms’. These areas are ideal for any department that relies heavily on creative or collaborative projects, giving team leaders a venue to speak with small teams without occupying a much larger conference room. These breakout areas can also be used for team members to collaborate with each other.
The key office furniture pieces in collaborative breakout areas are large, open surfaces, with seating that can be easily reconfigured or removed.
Breakout Areas can also be used as a place of focus rather than collaboration. These areas are ideal for workers who need to spend large amounts of uninterrupted time focusing on the task at hand. These breakout areas are similar to the ‘quiet rooms’ you see in University libraries, and can be a godsend for programmers, engineers—anyone who needs an intense amount of focus.
The key office furniture pieces in focus breakout areas are isolated workstations with sound-dampening barriers, often within an enclosed room designed to drown out the ambient sounds of the office. They also require enough power and network access points to accommodate a laptop at each work station.
As with all other office furniture installation, quality is a key factor in breakout office furniture. A wobbly table, an improperly mounted barrier, or a damaged surface can be distracting, and have a negative overall effect on morale. That’s why we strongly recommend using an office installation service such as Choice Office Installations to implement your breakout area. We’ll make sure that your breakout area is built to spec and as effective as possible.
If you’re considering re-purposing a space into a breakout area, call us today.