How to Make Your Office More Private

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Offices can be loud and distracting places to be. Most of the working world is now working remotely or in a hybrid manner so that the time spent in an office is fewer than before. You need to be able to get the results from your workers that you’re looking for. Office design has recently shifted to reflect open concepts. The cubicles that we used to have with separate offices and darkened conference rooms are not.

Office Identity

As common as they used to be, hotdesking, communal tables and common spaces have really become the norm, which means that companies have to embrace an open office layout where possible. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep your office activity private. If your office is on the ground floor facing the High Street, then figuring out your privacy may be difficult. You can find the best way to tint commercial building windows to stop people seeing into the building, but what about the people actually working within the space? Some office activities are designed to be private, and the goal of the office space itself is to allow for productivity of the workers working there. 

So let’s take a look at how you can balance that openness that you’ve always wanted with a little bit more privacy for individual workers.

Partitions

Cubicles have often been restricted because the walls of a cubicle tend to go from floor to ceiling. Partitions are different. Workers can have a barrier from their colleagues with a partition that goes halfway between the desks. This way people can still be seen, but there is a buffer for sound. 

Adaptability With Flexible Furniture

Standing desks, modular couches and rolling shelving units allow you to change how your office looks on a week to week basis. If you want, workers can adapt their space to suit their needs and get the work done more effectively. Flexible furniture adds that adaptability that you’ve been looking for.

Put Teams Together

Workspace neighborhoods are great when it comes to clustering teams into their own separate tables. You want people to be in their team huddles so that they can collaborate easily, rather than having to walk across the office space over and over to be able to talk to one another. Workspace neighborhoods also give you a chance to have pow wows with the team where everybody knows what everybody’s doing without their needing to be any rushing around.

Add In Sound Proof Phone Booths

Noise is the biggest distraction for a worker when they’re working in the office, especially in an open plan layout. When you offer them phone booths or even quiet rooms where they can make calls you’ll allow them to stay focused during their most important ones, thus ensuring privacy. In general office areas, you can even add sound dampeners because that can tone down any excess noise and avoid worker distractions. Investing in technology like headphones that minimize surround sound will also help.