A full office can come with its own issues. Perhaps there isn’t enough space for a team decision-making session. Another team member may want to focus on a task but can’t because of a nearby meeting. Someone working from home may struggle to hear coworkers sitting around a table.
When thinking about HR strategic planning, companies should consider the right office environment for the tasks being completed. Companies should better understand when employees collaborate and when they need to focus. They should also understand why an employee would want to come into an office in the first place.
Topics covered:
- Start With What Your Team Does
- Allow Space for Communication
- Consider Hybrid Employees
- Let HR Strategic Planning Get Involved
- Try Your Idea Out First
- Conclusion
Start With What Your Team Does
You may want to jump into rethinking your office and pull up pictures of ideal office environments. They may have comfy seats, meeting rooms, and one large communal space.
Are these things going to help your employees with their daily tasks?
Think about what your employees actually do. If they’re selling something, they may want space to hop on calls and talk to others about how to sell better. If they’re working on a product, they may want a room to put ideas up and leave them for a couple of days. Maybe they need time to focus on numbers and longer periods where no one is bothering them.
Have your employees tell you what a typical week looks like for them. What do they like to do with other people around, and what tasks do they like to focus on by themselves? Don’t forget your hybrid employees, too.
This ties into the bigger discussion about the future of work. Here is an article by Joey Havens that discusses what US-based business leaders think about rethinking the office for collaboration purposes. However, you shouldn’t rely on general information to decide what your company should do.
Just because someone is sitting at their desk doesn’t mean they’re collaborating with others.
Allow Space for Communication
Collaboration doesn’t always have to happen in one large room. Some employees may need smaller rooms to help them complete certain tasks.
Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban conducted a 2018 study of two office redesigns and found that face-to-face interaction declined after the move to more open layouts. The findings suggest that simply taking down walls may not help employees collaborate more.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating space for collaboration:
- Provide small rooms for collaboration on specific projects, one-on-one meetings, and coaching sessions.
- Have open space for team members to communicate and discuss team goals.
- Create space for individuals to focus on their tasks and avoid distraction.
- Create spaces that can accommodate large or small groups with movable furniture.
Once you’ve created these spaces, group spaces with similar activities together, while keeping quiet areas separate from noisy collaboration zones. Having a communal space next to a focus space can defeat the purpose of both.
Research suggests that some employees adapt their workspaces to address shortcomings in their working environment. In the Gensler Research Institute 2026 Global Workplace Survey, 2/3 of participants said they made adjustments to compensate for shortcomings in their workspaces. This included participants who worked in an office at least some of the time in 16 different countries.
Not every office is going to need a redo. More meeting rooms, cushions, and a dedicated focus area could help your employees.
Consider Hybrid Employees
A meeting room may seem like it enables collaboration for the people in it, but what about those joining remotely?
Imagine your team is looking at an idea on a whiteboard. Everyone in the room can see the entire board, chime in at any time, and see one another’s facial expressions. But a coworker working from home may only see half the board and not know when to speak up.
Make sure your office allows hybrid employees to feel included when collaborating with others. Make sure the room has screens that can show remote employees. Also make sure microphones can pick up people who aren’t as vocal as the person closest to the computer.
Try to have documents that everyone can view on their computer.
Gallup has done studies on what makes a successful hybrid team. Your office should accommodate hybrid employees, and your team should understand when to meet and what to expect from each other.
Share your meeting notes with those who weren’t able to attend the meeting.
Let HR Strategic Planning Get Involved
Facilities and budgets often shape the early discussions about office changes. However, HR should be brought in before final decisions are made.
An office is not only where employees work, but also where they learn, meet their manager, and socialize with others. There are many reasons HR should be involved in office discussions.
By asking employees what they want from an office, you can use that information to support office changes. If your newer employees want to spend more time with their mentor, make sure that they have that opportunity in the office. Experienced employees may want more space to focus, so don’t place them next to the meeting room.
After you have spoken with your teams, facility staff, and employees. Come up with a list of things that everyone agrees on:
- What do you want to do in the office that can benefit your team?
- How will your team reserve meeting rooms and other spaces in the office?
- Will there be certain rooms that are designated for focus time?
- Will these rooms allow employees with disabilities to comfortably work in them?
Don’t forget about managers; they will need to utilize the office correctly as well. If you designate a room for collaboration but one person decides that’s now their desk, it defeats the purpose of that room.
When developing an office, try to keep these tips in mind. While furniture and decor alone can’t build rapport, the right layout can support better team interaction; the wrong room setup can.
Try Your Idea Out First
You don’t have to overhaul your whole floor at once. Pick one section of your office and see what works for that area.
Pick one team that you know will benefit from the change. Do they have a problem with meeting rooms or don’t have space to talk about specific projects? Give that team a few weeks with your new layout and see if anything has improved.
Track room usage; don’t rely only on what employees tell you. Maybe a meeting room is always filled, but your employees never use it for what you intended. You could have created a focus area, but it’s located near a team that spends a lot of time on calls.
Here are three things to track when trialing a new office layout:
- How are the rooms being used?
- Are your employees able to focus, collaborate, and support hybrid employees?
- Is your team completing their tasks and communicating with one another?
No single measurement will tell you whether your office is good or bad. Once you receive feedback from your employees, keep doing what works and fix what doesn’t. Then decide if you want to expand to other parts of your office.
This will also allow you to change things in the future. Maybe your team grows, or you start working on new projects that require different types of rooms.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to improve your office for collaboration purposes. Ask your employees what they like and don’t like about their current office space. Create space for them to collaborate and focus. Don’t forget your hybrid employees, and bring HR into the conversation.
Help your employees collaborate more when they come into the office.
