Companies have recently placed a heavy importance on office morale and space utilization. Savvy business owners are finding innovative ways to achieve positive outcomes in these areas while maximizing savings.
One trendy way to refresh the workplace for you and your employees is to opt for an agile office layout. Companies like Zenbooth eliminate the downsides of open-style offices with modern phone booth furniture.
Why Are Open Offices So Popular?
Proponents of open offices argue that they can be much more cost effective than cubicles and private offices. It's no wonder that 70% of offices now have no partitions — or if they do have them, they're at very low height.
It's true that open offices can make better use of space. The "open area" allows workers to share resources, so you can purchase fewer printers and the like. The more meaningful benefits of the open office, however, revolve around collaboration. That's why it's ironic that many of the challenges presented by open offices relate to employees' peak performance.
Is Communication Better Between Co-Workers?
In theory, employees can initiate more face-to-face discussions with their colleagues when they are a few steps away and don't need to trek all over the office to hunt people down or resort to easy-to-misinterpret email chains.
Open offices can facilitate and encourage impromptu collaboration, but this same ease of interaction leads to a lack of privacy — and many times, to an inability to concentrate. In many cases, scheduled conversations could be more effective and efficient since parties will be ready to engage on a topic. All you need is a convenient place to meet.
What About Office Morale?
When employees are not feeling closed in or constricted by cubicle walls, they are more likely to interact in a meaningful way. They even integrate new staff better since they're not separated from their colleagues.
How happy can you be, though, when there's excessive noise, little privacy so you can focus, and constant distractions? If there are secure areas in which workers can conduct important and personal business, they can be more confident and interact more open with each other.
Working With Others in an Open Office
Of course, how much distraction occurs in an open office largely depends on the people in it. As with any other interpersonal situation, employees will have to use their best judgment and communication skills to figure out boundaries. (For suggestions on what individual workers can do about workplace noise, check out this helpful article on dealing with loud and/or disruptive co-workers.)
Does Openness Lead to Less Micromanaging?
Personality aside, a lot of people micromanage when they feel they're not in control or are uninformed. In an open office managers can scan the work area unobstructed by cubicle walls to gauge productivity or lack thereof.
In theory, managers also can defuse misunderstandings or HR issues before the boiling point prevents potential missed deadlines or deadlock, derailing a project timeline.
In reality, employees are constantly looking over their shoulders or pretending to be busy just to satisfy their managers glaring eyes. The stress level of your boss being so close and available can actually wreak havoc on your productivity and even your immune system. In fact, open office employees take far more sick days than those in other workplace settings.
This Is Where Open Office Phone Booths Come In
Between 25% to 30% of open office workers expressed dissatisfaction with the level of noise at their job.
If an employee needs to make an important work call, the Zenbooth Comfort Booth is the ideal solution. With its magnetic latch system, renewable sound insulation, and double-paned insulated glass door, the Comfort Booth provides a quiet, secure space that's easy to use.
Each Comfort Booth has two electrical outlets, fast-charging USB ports and a custom standing desk, so workers can handily make notes during a conversation. They can also follow a presentation on a laptop or actually get work done while waiting for a conference call.
Open Office Phone Booths Can Help with Meeting Room Management
You can save yourself the trouble of booking the big boardroom for more formal meetings or when there are a large number of participants expected.
People who need a 1v1 meeting can use our Executive Booths if they don't want to disturb their neighbors or if they want some privacy. Executive Zenbooths are convenient and provide all the amenities of a boardroom or private office but take up much less space, making them perfect mini-conference rooms.
It's So Adaptable For Upsizing, Downsizing, or Reorganizing Your Office Space
Traditional offices don't adapt to turnover and staffing changes as well as modular spaces. You are constrained by walls that you can't alter if you're renting. If you own the building, you could do some renovations, but these can be extremely costly and cause unnecessary downtime.
Our Modern Phone Booths Are Light, Quick, and Easy to Assemble
An experienced handyperson can install an open office phone booth in about an hour. Zenbooths are also easy to disassemble and move around, so your office can accommodate changes in staffing numbers in a timely manner and with the least amount of disruption to the rest of the office.
They Go With Everything
There is a natural sort of aesthetic that Zenbooths have. The Zenbooth comes in white and maple, which are complementary to practically any office style out there, so you don't have to worry about wrecking your color scheme or taking away from your decor.
Going With Our Eco-Friendly Phone Booths Make You a Good Corporate Citizen
Until Elon Musk colonizes Mars for us, we've only got one planet. Being environmentally conscious is a mark of good corporate citizenship.
Zenbooths allow you to reduce your carbon footprint in a way that traditional offices cannot. There's a reason that many offices seeking to earn points in LEED (Leadership in Environmental Design) tend to incorporate modular spaces.
We also plant one new tree for every tree used to make a Zenbooth.
More Environmentally Responsible
Modular wall systems require less initial material and produce less waste than traditional offices when it comes to installation, construction, or renovation of the work area.
Zenbooths are made from materials that are recyclable and/or reusable. The ventilation fans are activated by motion sensors, so it only expends energy when there is someone actually using the booth. Full skylights allow the booth to work off existing lighting, saving electricity.
Working with Local Businesses
The materials used to create Zenbooths are locally sourced and the wood comes from nearby U.S. forests. Manufacture of Zenbooths occurs in Berkeley, CA. Not only is this better for the regional economy, shorter transports mean less air pollution.
What Are You Waiting For? Get Your Open Office Phone Booth Today
Join the ranks of some of the most prestigious companies in the world for the Zenbooth modular revolution. Not only can you boost employee collaboration, teamwork, and morale, but you can also negate the inherent concerns that tend to come with open offices.
Check out one of our showrooms across the country, or give us a call today to find out how you can create a state-of-the-art, cost-effective open office with our Zenbooths.
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