How to create work islands?

Office spaces are no longer designed for a single person. Individual rooms or separate desks are becoming less common. The new way of working in today's companies take into account the best way to work as a team, and one of these is by creating work islands. Discover with Officechair365 how to do it.

What are work islands?

In collaborative workspaces, where it is necessary to establish a more flexible work dynamics, the traditional layout of desks is outdated.

In this case, the ideal is to create work islands, which are office desks that allow several people to work harmoniously and pleasantly at the same desk.

This type of office furniture allows to promote teamwork and adapts better to the current work reality, where isolating workers is almost obsolete.

Desks for work islands offer numerous benefits:

• The most suitable conditions are created to modernise work within the company.
• Resources are better used, improving productivity.
• Spacious areas are promoted, which is positive for employee motivation.

Therefore, the choice of office furniture for work islands can have a significant impact on daily work performance.

How many people fit in an work island?

As you know, labour regulations establish guidelines for space distribution in the office. What is ideal for health and well-being of employees? How to place the furniture in the best way to make work more efficient?

In case of work islands, the goal is to cooperate, to do the work together, and to have enough space for meetings and everyday tasks.

In work islands in the office, you may need some diverse solutions, depending on the size of your team. The most common might be work islands for 4 people, but work islands for 6 people and even more are also frequent.

In addition to the number of people in each assigned work team for an island, the size of the island will also depend on the space available in your office. A small place offers fewer possibilities than, for example, a large office or an open space, where you can even place several work islands for each team.

And you also have different options depending on the type of furniture chosen. It is not the same to work at large rectangular tables than at round tables, where personal space is much more reduced if we consider that you also need room for office chairs, computers, etc. That is why, rectangular tables of considerable size are usually used for work islands, where employees can work face to face for better performance of their functions.

Tips for organizing the office with work islands

When distributing your office with work islands, consider the following aspects:

• Create spacious areas, where employees have enough comfort. If they do not have enough space, working together will be more tedious because they will feel they do not have enough privacy to read an email.
• Take advantage of the walls, whether to place boards or to paint on them (glass walls are a great solution). When a team works in islands, they need to have common resources at hand that they sometimes need to glance at.
• Use all types of storage: drawers, shelves, filing cabinet, but outside the common space, so that team members do not lose workspace. It is important that they can perform their tasks comfortably, and too many items can hinder that goal.
• Opt for open spaces whenever possible. Open offices, without partitions or screens, give a greater sense of space and favor collaborative work, which is ultimately what you aim for with a work island.
• Do not forget the lighting of the island. It is a space where the team needs to see each other's faces. A poorly lit place will not help your workers develop their tasks with a spirit of sharing.
• Think about rest areas. If the work island takes up too much space, the team will feel they only have room to work but not to take a break when needed. This does not contribute at all to flexible work that is sought with this type of office organisation.

You have seen how a work island can improve an office. These tips can help you get the most out of it.