From today’s Wall Street Journal:
From mazes of cubicles to plentiful lush balconies, office designers keep re-envisioning spaces to support our professional lives. Not all of their ideas have been…work-friendly, shall we say.
We thought it would be productive to ask the workers themselves—in this case Wall Street Journal readers—for a little brainstorming to see what their employers could be doing better. We asked, What office-design change would you most like to see?
Their responses covered a lot of ground, from workplace conventions to technology to the environment itself.
Put your phones away
Similar to a lunch break, I wish we could have a phone break each day. Staff members would place their phones in a box that would then be removed and face-to-face conversation would be encouraged instead.
This is an important cognitive disconnect. People are responding more slowly to face-to-face conversations as their minds alternate between concentrating on their device and in-real-life interactions.
This no-device speakeasy would be less structured around work and more like a hangout: Someone just kicks off a conversation and folks follow on.
- Desmond Latham, Pearly Beach, Western Cape, South Africa
No hoteling
One way companies could make the return to office smoother would be to have assigned offices and desks. Having a consistent space provides employees with stability and a sense of belonging, rather than navigating the uncertainty of finding a spot each day.
- Gabriela Valdez, Prosper, Texas
Read the complete story here.