Collaboration is essential in today’s business environment. It enables teams to be quicker and more effective in achieving shared goals. Most traditional office environments are not conducive to collaboration, however. While cubicles can be helpful for allowing employees to shut out distractions and focus on the work at hand, they do not encourage collaboration by their very nature. That being said, open offices aren’t a great alternative either. Open offices have been popularized in recent years with the hopes that they would foster spontaneous collaboration, but studies have shown that open offices actually hurt productivity and even cause workers to take more sick days.  So, how can employers solve the collaboration problem? Huddle rooms are the answer.  Huddle rooms, also known as breakout rooms, are

A meeting room is a center for collaboration. It is where ideas are shared, deals are made, and topics are brainstormed. The layout and setup of a meeting room can either support or hinder this purpose.  A properly configured meeting room optimizes learning, makes attendees feel comfortable, and encourages them to participate.   When thinking about how you want to set up your meeting room, consider the room’s objectives. Do you mostly plan to do presentations there? Will you use the meeting room for brainstorming? Who will be attending these meetings? Whatever the purpose may be, the design and layout of your meeting room should support that.   Location, Location, Location The location of conference rooms is important. A meeting room should be

Today’s businesses are in a cutthroat competition to attract and retain talent. Benefits and salaries are an important part of being able to retain talent, but so is creating a positive and productive work environment that empowers employees. One common sticking point in offices is the problems associated with finding and booking a meeting room. While scheduling meetings should be a straightforward, routine task, that’s unfortunately not the case in most businesses. Meeting rooms are often fully booked, making it challenging for employees to schedule important meetings. This requires employees to spend time asking around to see if someone can move their meeting so that they can use the room. What makes the problem even more frustrating is that some of these meeting rooms that are supposedly

Have you ever had the experience of booking a meeting in advance, only to find that when you go to the meeting room to start your meeting, it is occupied by others? What’s worse is that the people in the room are looking at you as if you’re in the wrong place, even though you rightfully booked the meeting room. Oftentimes, meeting rooms get hijacked when we need them the most, such as before an important conference call or status update meeting. Why do people steal meeting rooms? How can we prevent meeting room theft from occurring? There are a number of reasons why people steal meeting rooms. These are some of the scenarios one might encounter.     “This meeting is really important. Could

Do you know which spaces in your office are underutilized? Do you understand where work actually happens? More often than not, workspaces are unoccupied and conference rooms are not used to their full capacity. According to space utilization studies conducted by Herman Miller, private offices remain unoccupied 77% of the time and workstations remain unoccupied 60% of the time. Understanding how your workspace is currently used is the first step in improving resource utilization and increasing efficiency.   Eco-friendliness and flexible work are just some of the trends driving the use of workstations and meeting rooms across a wide range of industries. Mobility has become more important over the years, as an increasing number of employees work remotely or have flexible working arrangements. Smaller meeting spaces are