Facilities managers seek balance in cubicles and collaborative workplaces

For office managers who maintain facilities, a recent trend has emerged – businesses are beginning to revamp the look and feel of their workspaces, making them more open and collaborative. Perhaps a decade ago, employees preferred to work in more closed-off areas such as offices and cubicles, but nowadays, especially with the younger generation, the more popular style is an open-air setting that encourages interaction.

This trend isn’t unanimous, though. Some workers still need their privacy. As such, facilities managers should strive to build workspaces that achieve the difficult balance between the two contrasting styles, according to Buildings.com.

“Rather than one workspace for each employee, offices will provide a range of work settings that employees can use depending on the task at hand,” John Michael, vice president and general manager of Business Interiors by Staples, told the news source.

This movement is becoming especially important now, as those born in the 1980s and ’90s begin to enter the workforce. Generation Y employees are constantly plugged into their technology, and given the wealth of options for communication like email, chat and text, they demand instant communication. According to FacilitiesNet, workplace redesign is an effective way to make that happen.

Employees’ styles of doing business are changing. Facilities managers must engineer offices to match that shift.