In my last mobile workplace article Programming Mobile Office Facilities, I presented example furniture and facilities neighborhood groups for the three predominant work practice styles that I first discussed in Mobile Office Work Practices. These example neighborhood groups included the principal furniture and facilities needed to support this work practice style and the ancillary and support facilities normally present in this type of arrangement. I will focus on the top furniture and facilities components that support and typify each work practice style in this and the following two articles.
Again, I’ll begin with employees who work individually or with others in a dedicated workspace. As listed in the Facilities Matrix, enclosed offices and open workstations are the principal furniture and facility elements needed for this work practice.
This furniture and facility must provide acoustic and visual privacy for employees who spend most of their time intensely focused on the assigned task. For open workstations, privacy partitions should be no less than six feet tall and have a glass at the top to allow light to penetrate the workstation.
A landline phone and a desk-top computer arrangement – often with multiple screens – would be provided. A desk or work, surface, and file storage, are also supplied. Since staff members in this work practice principally remain in their office, a guest chair(s) and telephone/video conferencing capabilities would frequently be included.
As implied by the term “dedicated,” this type of furniture or facility would be provided on a 1:1 ratio; one workstation for each employee. Of the three work practice categories, this category requires furniture and facilities most similar to those previously provided in a traditional office.
The following layout and illustration depict examples of a typical assigned workstation layout for this work practice type when applied to 30 staff members. This layout includes 30 open workstations that allow for individual work that requires concentration. The workstations are supplemented with extra chairs for small meetings and personal storage. The neighborhood also has two areas for file storage and two small and formal conferencing areas.
Next, I’ll look at the furniture and facilities required for employees who work in small groups or larger teams in multiple locations within the organization.
