Blog > October 2026 >

What 3 Companies Did With the Space Where the Desks Used to Be Open

October 7, 2026 4 min read

Key takeaways

• UK offices reduced desk ratios from 79 to 56 per 100 employees, converting the recovered floor area into small enclosed rooms and flexible zones for collaborative work.
• Fixed in-office days create predictable attendance peaks, which cause 43% of workers to cancel meetings when they cannot find an available room.
• Door Tablet screens eliminate hallway confusion by displaying real-time availability, and the software captures accurate utilisation metrics that building-level badge counts miss.

UK offices now provide 56 desks for every 100 employees. In July 2022, the figure was 79.

That comes from AWA's Hybrid Working Index, and it is probably the most useful number in workplace design right now. Roughly a third of British desks have disappeared in four years. The floor space did not disappear with them.

So something took their place. This is about what.

Three companies have already done that work for you. Each completed a major redesign between 2023 and 2025, in different sectors and at very different budgets, and each solved a different part of the problem.

The floor got rebalanced, not emptied

The clearest way to see the shift is CBRE's occupancy data. Between 2021 and 2023, private space fell from 56% of office floor area to 45%. Collaborative space went from 14% to 20%.

Private space includes assigned desks and enclosed offices. Collaborative space includes meeting rooms, but also lounges, project areas and the sort of half-formal seating that has no good name yet. The office did not get smaller so much as it changed what it was mostly made of.

CBRE's 2026 occupancy report found that 68% of employees name collaborating with colleagues as their main reason for coming in. Focused work migrated home. What was left behind was the part that needs other people in the room, and rows of identical desks are a poor container for that.

JLL's 2026 occupancy benchmark shows where the space went in practice: private offices continuing to decline, with phone booths, focus rooms and small meeting rooms rising in their place. Not open plan. Small enclosed rooms, in quantity.

Three companies, three different designs

Lloyds Banking Group, 125 Colmore Row, Birmingham

Overbury's refurbishment of Lloyds' regional head office covers 151,000 sq ft across nine levels and took 72 weeks. It is the largest single-occupier office fit-out ever completed in the city.

The interesting number is the seat mix. The building supports over 1,750 people with more than 1,300 desks and over 600 alternative work settings, including booths and breakout areas. So desks are now roughly two-thirds of the seats rather than all of them. The number of meeting rooms was doubled.
Collaboration spaces on every floor, an events space sized for town halls, a broadcast studio for filming on site, a tech bar for walk-up IT support. Plus a gym, a music room and a contemplation space, all designed for wheelchair access.

What to take from it: the desk count is no longer the plan. It is one line in the plan. If you double the meeting rooms, the arithmetic of a smaller desk count starts to work.

NatWest Group, 250 Bishopsgate, London

You do not need to build a new office when you can refurbish the old one.

NatWest consolidated its London portfolio from six major buildings down to two, and 250 Bishopsgate became the head office. It is an 11-storey glass and steel block designed by EPR Architects in 1998, which is to say a thoroughly desk-centric building from the tail end of the cubicle era. LOM architecture and design retrofitted it in phases, during and after the pandemic, without closing it. Staff kept working while the work went on around them.

The specification was reuse first. Ceilings, storage, desks and chairs were repurposed rather than skipped. Recycled desktops, mobile furniture and moveable walls make up reconfigurable areas that LOM calls Flexi Zones, which can be rearranged for teamwork, quiet work or events. The old ground-floor dealer floor became a 300-seat conference centre. An old third-floor meeting centre became a co-working floor. A previously inaccessible ninth-floor roof terrace became a garden with fruit trees and herbs, and the basement car park became cycle storage with showers.

The result was around 1,000 sq m of additional usable space and a doubling of occupancy within the existing structure.

What to take from it: you can double the capacity of a 1990s floor plate without new furniture and without a new lease.

GAMA Healthcare, Hemel Hempstead

GAMA Healthcare successfully drew staff back to its 20,000-square-foot Hemel Hempstead office by replacing identical rows of desks with varied, task-based zones. The company designed this hybrid workspace to give different departments the specific facilities they need under one roof.

Instead of a traditional open plan, the layout centres around a bright breakout area featuring tiered seating and two treehouse meeting rooms. This core space connects directly to a large kitchen and games area for informal socialising. Throughout the rest of the floor plan, employees have access to flexible furniture, a dedicated training suite, and distinct workstations tailored to their daily tasks.

What to take from it: Replacing a standard sea of desks with diverse, task-based zones turns an empty office into a practical destination. You make the commute worthwhile by offering a mix of flexible workstations and social hubs that genuinely support how people actually work.

The bit that furniture cannot fix

Here is where the redesigns run into something a floor plan will not solve.

JLL's 2026 benchmark found that 62% of organisations now require fixed in-office days, up from 49% the year before, and 70% of employees attend three to five days a week. Fixed days mean predictable peaks. Everyone arrives on the same three days, which means the settings you carefully specified are oversubscribed on Tuesday and empty on Friday.

The Gensler survey shows exactly what that looks like from the floor. 65% of workers use meeting rooms for solo focused work. 64% take calls in hallways. 43% cancel meetings altogether when they cannot find a room.

JLL makes the same point from the estates side: building-level badge counts cannot tell you whether a particular space is working, and space-level utilisation data is what separates a redesign you can defend from one you merely hope about. If you are about to spend seven figures rebalancing a floor from desks to rooms, the least useful thing you can do afterwards is guess at whether the rooms get used.

Which is the argument for putting something on the door. Not because a screen is exciting, but because a room nobody can find is the same as a room you did not build.

Your office redesign created the right spaces. Door Tablet ensures your staff can actually find and use them.

A physical screen outside the room solves the immediate hallway confusion. When an employee stands outside a focus room on a busy Wednesday, a Door Tablet display shows exactly when that space is free. They do not need to check a phone or guess if the occupant is just finishing a call. The meeting room tablets provide an immediate, local answer with a clear visual indicator.

The software handles the predictable peaks. It integrates with your existing calendar system; Door Tablet lets staff secure rooms from their laptop. If a meeting ends early or someone does not tap in at the door, the system automatically releases the room back to the floor. The space becomes instantly available for other meetings.

You collect actual usage data from these physical interactions. Building-level badge counts cannot tell you whether a particular space is working. Door Tablet workspace analytics record exactly which small meeting rooms get booked, which booths sit empty, and when people actually check in for their reservations. This replaces hopeful guesswork with utilisation metrics.

Your office redesign created the right spaces. Door Tablet ensures your staff can actually find and use them. Book a demo today!

Blog > August 2026 >

How to Keep Your Team Meetings Valuable and Engaging Open

August 19, 2026 4 min read

Most of us spend too much time in poorly planned meetings, leaving teams exhausted and managers frustrated. The secret to running engaging meetings is adapting your management style to the room. What works for a hybrid meeting fails for an in-office meeting, and neither approach suits 1:1 meetings. Here is how to fix your calendar and give your team their time back.

Key Takeaways:

Stop using meetings for basic status updates: Implement the 15-30-45 rule and a strict "no agenda, no meeting" policy to ensure gatherings are used exclusively for deep problem-solving and collaboration.

Adapt your management style to the environment: For hybrid meetings, enforce the "One Screen, All Screens" rule to ensure equal participation. For in-office days, protect focus time with meeting-free days and reserve physical meetings for high-trust tasks.

Protect 1:1s and remove physical friction: Keep 1:1 meetings focused entirely on employee well-being and career development. Additionally, eliminate the chaos of in-office room scheduling by using dedicated hardware solutions like Door Tablet.

The Anatomy of Engaging Meetings

A valuable meeting solves a specific problem instead of just reporting status. Good managers protect their team's focus and mental energy when they evaluate the true purpose of every calendar invite. If the group only listens to one person read a list, that definitely could’ve been an email.

• Try the 15-30-45 Rule. Cap quick alignment chats at 15 minutes. Give execution planning 30 minutes. Reserve 45 minutes for deep problem-solving.
• Look at the data. Microsoft's Human Factors Lab found that back-to-back meetings cause a buildup of beta waves in the brain, leading to high stress. Giving people even a five-minute break between calls resets their focus. Asana reports that knowledge workers spend 60 per cent of their day on "work about work."

Mastering the In-Office Meetings

An in-office meeting gives you tools that digital spaces lack, like reading the room and physical whiteboarding. You should use this time for tasks that require high trust, debate, and immediate feedback. Before you send a meeting invite, take this into account:

• Show the cost. Shopify built a calculator into their internal calendar app that shows the estimated financial cost of every meeting before the organiser clicks send. You can do this manually when you multiply the average hourly rate of your attendees by the meeting length. It forces everyone to ask if the gathering is truly worth the money.
• Protect focus time. Companies like Dropbox use strict "No-Meeting Days" to give their staff uninterrupted work periods. The Sloan Management Review found that introducing just one meeting-free day a week increases productivity and reduces micromanagement.

Best Practices for High-Energy Hybrid Meetings

Hybrid environments often create presence disparity, where remote workers feel sidelined because the conversation naturally caters to those sitting around the boardroom table. You must actively manage the discussion to ensure equal participation and make everyone feel valued.

• Adopt the "One Screen, All Screens" rule. Software companies like Atlassian and Lucid require every attendee to log into the video call on their own laptop, even if half the team is in the same conference room. Everyone takes up the same amount of screen space, and everyone collaborates on the same digital whiteboard.
• Go to the screen first. Always direct your first questions to the remote staff on the screen before turning to the people sitting next to you in the room.

1:1 Meetings: Your Best Management Tool

Think of 1:1 meetings as protected time to support your team members, not for project check-ins. This is your primary opportunity for employee retention, active listening, and building psychological safety.

• Flip the agenda. Employees submit their project updates in writing beforehand. The conversation focuses strictly on career development, removing roadblocks, and checking on the person's well-being.
• Let the employee lead. Ask your team members to bring three topics they want to discuss. Your job is to listen and unblock them instead of dictating their daily workflow.

4 Universal Rules to Keep Team Meetings Useful

Adopt a "Camera-Optional" Policy

Research from SAP suggests forced video increases screen fatigue and reduces listening comprehension. Give your staff the autonomy to turn off their cameras when they need to focus on the audio. Explain the reasoning behind this policy, so your team feels comfortable taking screen breaks without looking disengaged.

Always Set a Collaborative Agenda

A single author should not dictate the entire conversation. Allow team members to add items to the shared meeting agenda 24 hours beforehand. This practice increases engagement because participants have a direct stake in the topics discussed.

Enforce the "No Agenda, No Meeting" Rule

Cancel any calendar invite that lacks a clear agenda the day before. This forces organisers to think critically about what they want to achieve and shows respect for everyone's time. It also gives attendees time to prepare relevant data and ideas.

End with Clear Action Items (Who does What by When)

Never end a conversation without documenting the next steps. Assign specific tasks to specific people with hard deadlines. This eliminates confusion and turns your discussion into clear deliverables.

Fixing the Room Booking Problem with Door Tablet

You can eliminate scheduling conflicts with Door Tablet's booking software and display hardware. Nothing ruins an in-person session faster than wandering the halls looking for a meeting room.

Door Tablet stops this confusion through a few practical features:

• Instant booking: Employees can reserve an open room directly from the touchscreen mounted outside the door.
• Direct calendar sync: The tablets update your central company calendar right away, stopping double bookings.
• Ghost meeting prevention: The system releases the room for someone else to use if an organiser fails to check in on the tablet within a set time after the start time.

Book a demo today to see how Door Tablet makes booking a meeting room effortless.

FAQs

How do you make a hybrid meeting more engaging?
Require everyone to join the video call from their own laptop, even if they are in the office. Direct your first questions to remote attendees to overcome presence disparity.

What is a good agenda for a 1:1 meeting?
Skip the status updates. Focus the agenda on career progression, removing immediate blockers, and discussing employee wellbeing. Ask the employee to build the agenda themselves.

How long should an in-office meeting last?
Follow the 15-30-45 Rule. Limit quick syncs to 15 minutes and execution planning to 30 minutes. Cap complex problem-solving sessions at 45 minutes to maintain focus and prevent schedule fatigue.

Blog > August 2026 >

The Ultimate Guide to Activity-Based Working Technology Open

August 12, 2026 3 min read

Activity-based working relies on smart workspace management technology to prevent office chaos and capture accurate space utilisation analytics. Giving your team the freedom to choose different zones for specific tasks demands a system that maps out real-time availability across the entire floor plan. Your hybrid workplace strategy falls apart if people cannot easily locate and reserve the exact spaces they need.

Key Takeaways

Task-specific zones increase efficiency: Replacing assigned seating with dedicated work areas reduces the total office space needed per employee.

Disconnected tech creates friction: Flexible offices struggle without unified booking systems, causing wasted time and unused room reservations.

Data drives floor plans: Linking booking tablets and sensors provides real-time occupancy metrics to help you adjust layouts accurately.

What is Activity-Based Working (ABW)?

This model moves away from the traditional concept of assigning one desk to one person. It provides a variety of purpose-built spaces tailored to specific tasks instead. An employee might start their morning in a quiet focus pod, move to an open collaborative zone for a team brainstorm, and take an afternoon client call in a soundproof phone booth.

The Proven Benefits of ABW

ABW environments, to a greater extent than traditional offices, satisfy employees' needs and preferences, as well as their autonomy, thereby stimulating creativity by allowing individuals to use various work environments and manage their time in ways that enhance their creative process (Heerwagen & Kinzie, 2007). It can also contribute to more efficient resource utilisation (Jung et al., 2020). Research confirms that by implementing shared collaborative areas and flexible workstations, organisations can reduce office space and the overall amount of square footage needed per employee (Maina et al., 2019).

Employees are 2.5× more likely to say their workplace supports both individual and team productivity when they have access to diverse, task-based spaces, especially ones built for collaboration.

- Gensler’s 2023 Global Workplace Survey

Why ABW Fails Without Workspace Management Tech

Transitioning to an activity-based working office means shifting from assigned desks to a flexible, task-driven environment. The core hurdle is overcoming resistance to change while optimising space and technology. Moving to this model presents several specific obstacles:

• The "My Desk" Mentality: Employees often feel a loss of ownership or territoriality when they no longer have an assigned workspace.
• Space Mismanagement: Poor zoning can lead to a lack of quiet zones or overcrowding in collaborative areas.
• Distractions: Activity zones require acoustic shielding. Noise levels can disrupt focused work.
• Tech Disconnects: Equipping different zones with mismatched hardware and booking tools creates immediate frustration when those separate systems cannot communicate with one another.

Relying on a manual or poorly integrated booking system for these spaces creates immediate friction. Employees waste valuable time wandering the floor looking for the right place to work, whether they need a hot desk, a focus pod, an open collaborative space, or a quiet area.

Abandoned bookings present another massive roadblock. This happens when a space is reserved on the calendar, but no one actually shows up. These unused reservations lock others out of usable spaces and frustrate teams who just need a place to sit down and work. With effective workspace management solutions, you can eliminate these challenges for good.

The Essential Tech Stack for Activity-Based Working

Eliminating Friction with Conference Room Displays

Placing a conference room display in key areas solves the visibility problem instantly. Employees can see real-time availability as they walk past. These tablets are highly versatile and allow your team to book different spaces across the office, regardless if it is an enclosed meeting room, a hot desk, or an open collaboration area. If a space is free, staff can book it directly on the screen. If it is occupied, they can use the interface to find and reserve alternative areas nearby.

Tracking True Usage with Meeting Room Sensors

Meeting room sensors track actual occupancy data within your spaces. When someone books an area but fails to show up, the hardware detects zero motion. The system then automatically releases the reservation back to the calendar. This prevents unused bookings from tying up valuable real estate and ensures your scheduling system always reflects reality.

Wayfinding Displays

Wayfinding displays show exactly what is happening across the entire office floorplan. If an employee books a room or a desk, they can look at the main screen and get clear directions to their reserved space. This prevents the daily confusion of navigating a flexible office layout.

How Sensors and Displays Work Together to Optimise Space

These tools work best as a connected ecosystem. Sensors provide the raw occupancy data, the software processes this information, and the displays communicate it to employees instantly.

Facilities managers can then review the resulting data to understand which zones are popular and which remain underutilised. You can adjust your floor plan based on hard facts rather than assumptions.

Build a Smarter Workspace Today

Managing an activity-based working environment successfully requires the right hardware and software. Deploying meeting room sensors with conference room displays gives your team the tools they need to navigate the office without frustration. You also gain the occupancy data required to continually refine your spaces.

Ready to improve your office experience?

Book a demo with Door Tablet today!

FAQs

How do meeting room sensors improve activity-based working?
They track actual human presence instead of relying on calendar data. If a scheduled meeting does not happen, the sensor detects the space and frees it up for other employees to use.

Do I need a conference room display for every meeting space?
It depends on your space; placing a screen near enclosed meeting areas and open zones provides immediate clarity. It prevents interruptions, shows schedule availability, and allows staff to secure any space instantly.

What is the difference between hot desking and activity-based working?
Hot desking simply means employees do not have assigned seats and grab any available desk. Activity-based working is a broader strategy providing distinct, specialised areas designed for specific task types.

Blog > July 2026 >

Work Meetings in Numbers: Latest Meeting Statistics Open

July 8, 2026 4 min read

The way we meet is constantly changing, shifting from simple room gatherings into complex hybrid events. We will walk through the latest statistics and insights about how meetings actually work in today's offices.

Key Takeaways

• Defensive scheduling is becoming a standard workplace behavior, with employees actively using calendar blocking to protect deep work from a high volume of ineffective calls.

• ​Room hardware complexity leads to widespread abandonment, as workers frequently choose the reliability of personal laptops over in-room technology.

• Poor decision design drives systemic meeting fatigue, demonstrated by the high number of staff regularly attending calls without defined goals or clear next steps.

How We Meet

The modern meeting schedule is highly fragmented. Employees must constantly negotiate between collaboration and protected focus time. While 89% of leaders view internal meetings as critical for the future workplace, the spontaneous and expanding nature of these calls frequently disrupts the standard workday.

• 57% of meetings are ad-hoc calls with no calendar invite, and 10% are scheduled right before they start, meaning unplanned collaboration dictates the daily schedule.
• 50% of all meetings take place between 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM or 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, which directly interrupts peak productivity hours.
• 23% of all weekly meetings occur on Tuesday, making it the most congested day, while Friday carries only 16% of the meeting load.
• 16% more meetings happen after 8:00 PM year-over-year, and 29% of workers are still catching up on emails at 10:00 PM, pushing the workday late into the evening.
• 86% of all meetings now include at least 1 remote participant.
• 67% of workers prefer in-person meetings for major decisions, while only 5% choose virtual formats when deep focus is required.

Meeting RoomTechnology can delay your meetings

Despite companies investing in hardware, the user experience of the average meeting room remains a primary source of office friction.

• Workers have an average of 5 online or hybrid meetings per week.
• In-office employees spend an average of 6 minutes getting each meeting started.
• 77% of workers have lost additional time because meetings started late due to technical difficulties (Owl Labs).
• 30% of employees avoid using meeting room technology entirely, preferring to join from their own laptops even when in the room.
• 85% of workers identify good technology as a critical factor in their professional satisfaction (Owl Labs).

Meetings That Lead to More Meetings

The amount of time spent in synchronous discussion has reached a threshold where it provides diminishing returns. Meetings have tripled in frequency since 2020, yet 72% are deemed ineffective at achieving their stated purpose.

• The average meeting length has increased by 10% over the past 15 years.
• 94% of meetings are scheduled to last 1 hour or less.
• 80% of workers believe most of their meetings could be completed in half the time.
• 62% of workers frequently attend meetings where the goal was not mentioned in the calendar invite.
• 54% of employees often leave meetings unclear about the next steps or task ownership.
• 35% of meetings now span multiple time zones, pushing calls into early mornings or late evenings.

Meetings can be expensive

Inefficient meetings are a measurable fiscal burden. When 35% of leaders spend 3 or more hours a day on in-person meetings and email, the cost of that time compounds across the executive payroll.

• Unproductive meetings cost US professionals $259 billion every year.
• Employees with weekly meeting schedules exceeding 10 or 20 hours face reduced productivity and increased stress.
• The average employee spends 392 hours per year in meetings, equivalent to 10 full workweeks.
• 90% of employees report a "meeting hangover," which is a period of low productivity that follows a day packed with calls.
• 78% of workers say meeting overload prevents them from getting their actual work done.
• 40% of employees waste up to 30 minutes per day searching for an available meeting space.
• Hybrid workers often book rooms as "insurance," leading to a booking-to-occupancy ratio that has dropped 16% in 2 years.

Employees are Protecting Their Time and Focus

Some employees are trying to restrict their time spent in meetings, realising that many meetings could be an email. It is very common now to see these habits in the office:

• Calendar Blocking: 58% of employees use calendar blocking to protect deep work time.
• AI Avatars: 51% of workers are interested in having an AI avatar replace them in a meeting for information-gathering purposes.

Rules for Your Meetings

Meeting friction is often a symptom of poor decision design rather than a lack of intent. While face-to-face collaboration is a core requirement of the workday, 62% of workers frequently attend meetings where the goal was never mentioned in the calendar invitation.

As a result, 54% of employees leave these sessions unclear about their specific responsibilities or the next steps required to move a project forward. For this section, we compiled a list of meeting rules from how major companies conduct their meetings:

• Audit and Eliminate Unnecessary Meetings: Conduct a calendar audit to identify and reduce any standing meetings that are not essential. Set an end date or review date for any recurring meeting series.
• Set “No-Meeting” Times: Declare one morning or day per week as a no-meeting window for all, ensuring regular deep work periods.
• Limit Meeting Size and Length: Implement guidelines to keep meetings small and short. Encourage meeting organisers to invite only necessary participants and set cultural expectations to end meetings once objectives are met.
• Encourage Asynchronous Communication: Build an async-first communication culture using collaborative tools for updates and brainstorming.
• Adopt Daily 15-Minute Stand-ups: Replace lengthy status meetings with tight, time-boxed stand-ups for essential updates while enforcing a strict 15-minute limit.
• Ensure Every Meeting Has an Agenda and Outcome: Introduce a policy requiring an agenda and a defined outcome for every meeting. Allow attendees to suggest concluding early or scheduling follow-ups with smaller groups if the meeting lacks a clear purpose.
• Empower a “Respectful No” Culture: Encourage employees to decline or leave meetings that aren’t relevant, reinforcing time management over polite obligation.
• Assign a Person to be the Main Decision-Maker: This person would be responsible for reaching a conclusion in the meeting and deciding the path forward. If a meeting didn’t require a decision to be made, it wouldn’t happen.

How Door Tablet Organizes Modern Meetings

Door Tablet helps your team manage the unpredictable reality of modern office schedules. A fragmented workday requires a flexible environment, so our hardware and software give your staff immediate visibility into room availability right from the hallway.

If a group needs a space for a sudden conversation, they can claim an empty room directly on the touchscreen without causing calendar conflicts. You can also enforce strict fifteen minute limits for quick daily standups to keep discussions focused and free up the room faster.

We eliminate the daily frustration of wandering around searching for a place to work. Book a demo today to see how our system can organize your meeting spaces.

Blog > February 2026 >

What We Want to See in the Workspace in 2026 Open

February 18, 2026 4 min read

2025 was the year we all agreed that hybrid work is here to stay. But if we’re being honest, the experience of it still felt a bit clunky. We spent too much time managing the office, and not enough time just working in it.

As we look toward 2026, our perspective is simple: The office needs to stop being just a container for staff and start functioning like a premium product. To earn the commute, the workplace must offer a level of hospitality and resource availability that employees simply cannot get at their kitchen table.

Here is what we are rooting for in 2026.

1. The End of the "Ghost Room"

The "Ghost Room" remained the villain of the workplace. The calendar says the boardroom is booked from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. You walk past at 2:15 PM, and the lights are off. Nobody is there.

You spent a lot of energy sending reminders: "Please cancel if you aren't showing up!" But the truth is, humans are busy. We forget.

What we want to see in 2026: We want the system to handle the awkwardness so you don't have to.

In 2026, we want to see more intelligent auto-release. If a meeting is booked but nobody badges in or trips the motion sensor within 10 minutes, the room should quietly release itself. The red light turns green, and it is ready to be booked again!

2. We Want Tech to Become Invisible (Ambient Intelligence)

We love screens, obviously, it’s what we do. But we also believe that the best interaction is often no interaction.

We are excited about the shift toward Ambient Intelligence.

When you walk into a room, the meeting room should "know" you are there via sensors. The lights should adjust to your preference, and the status sign outside should flip to "Occupied" without you pressing a single button. We want the technology to fade into the background, proactively solving problems (like checking you in) before they disrupt your flow.

This "invisible technology" solves the "interruption overload" that plagued workers in the early 2020s. Instead of constantly interacting with apps to check into rooms or adjust thermostats, the environment anticipates needs.

3. The "Hospitality-ification" of the Workplace

We want the office to function like a self-sustaining community with premium services. We want to see companies designing spaces that offer a "life" alongside work. If we’ve learned anything since 2020, it’s this: to earn the commute, the office has to offer an experience that employees just can't get at home. Not only does a premium office experience encourage teams to come in, but it also delivers real value to HR, where wellness initiatives directly drive higher retention.



Real-world examples we love:

• Pernod Ricard’s "The Island" (Paris): They built a functioning "Main Street" (La Rue). This central corridor isn't a hallway; it is a service hub. It features a concierge desk that handles personal errands, a travel agency, a gym, and a "click & collect" area for personal packages. They managed to turn the daily commute into a convenience, saving employees time on life admin.
• Adidas’ "World of Sports" (Germany): This campus proves that "dining" is a critical part of workplace hospitality. Their "Halftime" building operates as a multi-vendor food hall with healthy, restaurant-quality options designed to fuel their teams. Beyond food, the campus includes a track, a climbing wall, and on-site physiotherapists. It treats the employee as a "corporate athlete," providing the physical infrastructure for health and wellness that a home office simply cannot match.

​4. We Want the Office to Be a Sanctuary for Focus

One thing the home office often lacks is guaranteed silence (especially if you have a dog or kids). Yet, in many open-plan offices we visited last year, silence was impossible to find because of the "shoulder-tap" culture.

What we want to see in 2026: We want the office to respect the need for deep work. We hope to see more differentiated zones where the environment adapts based on the work style.

We want to see digital signage used as a "guardian" for these spaces. In a designated quiet zone, the displays should reflect that vibe, perhaps dimming their brightness or showing "Quiet Zone" prompts to remind passersby to lower their voices. The office should offer a level of focus that is harder to achieve at home.

We wrote an article about what a great workplace looks like, which dives more deeply into what the office should look like based on employees’ needs. Read it here.

The Bottom Line

In 2026, we don't want employees to just "go to work." We want them to subscribe to an experience that is demonstrably better than working from the couch. That is the office we are excited to help build with our workplace management solutions.

Blog > February 2026 >

2026 Workplace Tech Trends Open

February 4, 2026 7 min read

Last year, the focus was on getting people back to the office. This year, the focus is on making the office actually worth the trip.

We are moving past the mandates of 2025 and into a year of practical upgrades. From AI agents that handle your scheduling to new office layouts designed for real hybrid connection, we’ve crunched the numbers on where tech and office design trends are headed. Here is what the reality of 2026 looks like.

1. AI in the workplace

In 2025, we used AI to summarise meetings or write emails. In 2026, AI is becoming "agentic," meaning it has the autonomy to execute tasks within our workflows without our constant input.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, 40% of enterprise applications will feature embedded AI agents, up from less than 5% in 2025. In the context of meeting rooms, this means software that doesn't just show availability but actively manages it.

Instead of an employee spending twenty minutes cross-referencing five colleagues' calendars to find a slot, an AI agent connected to the room booking system executes the task.

It parses a request like, "Book a 2-hour workshop next week with the Marketing leads," analyses attendee availability, locates a room with the right capacity and AV gear, and sends the invites. If a conflict arises later, the agent autonomously negotiates a new time or locates an alternative space, handling the logistics instantly and invisibly.

2. Is Return to Office still relevant in 2026?

Throughout 2025, business news was dominated by high-profile "Return to Office" (RTO) mandates. Major players in tech and finance issued strict five-day in-office requirements, leading many commentators to declare that the hybrid era was ending.

However, the data tells a different story. While RTO headlines grabbed attention, the actual operating reality for the majority of organisations remained steadily hybrid.

According to Gallup, 52% of remote-capable employees in the U.S. continue to work in a hybrid arrangement, a figure that has stabilised rather than declined.

Owl Labs reports that despite the noise, 73% of employers have not actually changed their remote or hybrid policies in the past year. The mandates were often outliers, not the norm.  

The reality for 2026 is that hybrid is not "done"; it is still a solid work mode for many companies. The return to the office full-time will still be a prominent topic in 2026. Meta has already announced that its Instagram division will return to the office full-time in February.

3. Occupancy Management & Space Optimisation

Relying on badge swipes or basic motion sensors provides insufficient data for effective space management. To ensure accuracy, the trend for 2026 is Precision Occupancy Tracking using advanced sensor hardware.

Data reveals that companies remain "seriously over-desked." Reports from 2025 indicate that 24.5% of individual workstations are never used, and another 19.4% are used for less than one hour per day.

However, this hunger for data has collided with new employee behaviours born from rigid Return-to-Office (RTO) mandates like Coffee Badging. 44% to 58% of hybrid workers admit to "coffee badging, showing up to the office, swiping a badge to register attendance, grabbing a coffee, and leaving shortly after.

This has led to a tense dynamic where tracking is used not just for space planning, but for enforcement. 73% of companies now use some form of monitoring tools to track employee activity and location.

There is a valid business case for tracking utilisation to save millions on unused square footage. However, this data can be weaponised to police "coffee badgers" or track individuals.

56% of employees report feeling anxious or stressed when they know they are being digitally monitored. This surveillance approach destroys the psychological safety required for high performance. It turns the office into a place of compliance rather than connection.

The most successful organisations in 2026 will use this data solely for macro optimisation (e.g., "We need fewer desks on the 4th floor") rather than micro management (e.g., "Why was Sarah away from her desk for 45 minutes?").

4. Dynamic Zoning and the "Neighbourhood" Concept

The physical architecture of the workplace is adapting to support the "hybrid rhythm." The traditional "sea of desks" model is being replaced by the "Office Neighbourhood" concept, facilitated by dynamic zoning technology.

From Assigned Seating to "Purposeful Abundance"

Data suggests that 73% of companies expect people-to-desk ratios to exceed 1.5:1 by 2026 in the US. This density requires a shift from ownership (assigned desks) to access (bookable zones).  

Organisations are dividing floorplates into "neighbourhoods" assigned to specific departments (e.g., "Engineering Neighbourhood," "Sales Neighbourhood"). Within these zones, seating is unassigned but restricted to that team. This fosters a sense of belonging while maintaining the efficiency of hot-desking.  

Neuro-Inclusive Tech and Sensory Control

Workplace design in 2026 increasingly prioritises neuro-inclusion, acknowledging that 15-20% of the workforce has neurodivergent traits that make standard open-plan offices difficult to navigate.  

• Sensory Mapping: Digital signage and workplace apps now feature "sensory maps" that indicate the real-time environmental conditions of different zones. Employees can view which areas are currently "Quiet/Dim" versus "Active/Bright" and choose their workspace based on their sensory needs.  

• Personalised Control: Apps allow for hyper-localised control of environmental factors. Employees can adjust the brightness of overhead lights or the temperature of their specific "thermal zone" directly from their smartphone, granting agency over their immediate physical environment.  

Right-Sizing & Meeting Equity

The era of the cavernous boardroom is ending. CBRE’s 2024-2025 Global Workplace Insights report confirms a massive shift in spatial allocation, noting that while individual workstation footprints have shrunk by 11%, "collaboration ratios" (the number of meeting seats per employee) have risen significantly across all sectors.

• The "Campfire" Layout: To solve the "presence disparity" where remote workers feel like observers rather than participants, 2026 meeting rooms are adopting circular "campfire" layouts. Instead of a long rectangular table facing a single screen, furniture is arranged in a semi-circle.

• Center-of-Table Technology: These rooms utilise 360-degree, center-of-table AI cameras. Unlike front-of-room cameras that capture side profiles, these devices give remote participants a direct, face-to-face view of every speaker.

• The "Huddle-First" Shift: Despite this demand for small spaces, most offices remain over-indexed on large rooms. Worklytics highlights this inefficiency, reporting that while large conference rooms (16+ seats) average just 30% utilisation, phone booths and huddle spaces (3-4 seats) are seeing utilisation rates upwards of 80-90%.

Companies are physically restructuring meeting spaces. They are abandoning hierarchical layouts for circular "campfire" designs and adopting center-of-table cameras to ensure remote participants are treated as active contributors rather than passive observers.

5. E-Paper: The Sustainable Digital Signage

The visual language of the smart office is shifting from glowing LCD screens to E-Paper (Electronic Paper Displays). E-paper technology utilises electrophoretic microcapsules to display images. Crucially, it is bistable, meaning it consumes zero power to hold a static image and only requires energy when the content changes. 

Market forecasts for 2025–2026 indicate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30% for the e-paper sector. A key catalyst for this surge is the arrival of multi-color e-paper (ACeP).

This technology is ideal for room booking panels, wayfinding signage, and neighbourhood status boards. It eliminates the "light pollution" and blue light of traditional screens, blending seamlessly into architectural materials like wood or concrete.

6. The "Super-App" Consolidation

For years, employees have been forced to navigate a "scavenger hunt" of apps: one for desk booking, another for visitor registration, a third for submitting maintenance tickets, and a fourth for ordering catering. This friction discourages employees from using office resources effectively.

The trend for 2026 is App Consolidation. Organisations are demanding unified platforms that integrate these disparate functions into a single interface, often accessible directly through the tools employees already use, such as Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace.

52% of organisations feel they are using too many tools, leading to lost productivity and "app fatigue." The winning technologies in 2026 are those that offer a seamless "single pane of glass" experience. An employee should be able to book a desk, pre-register a guest, and request a specific room setup in one workflow. This integration is essential for making the in-office experience smoother than the home office experience.

The Building as a Service

In 2026, the office isn't a place you have to go; it's a tool you want to use.

The office is changing its shape. It is becoming quieter for the neurodivergent, faster for the busy, and softer for the stressed.  The trends confirm that employees do not need a place to sit; they need a place that actively supports specific tasks, from deep focus to hybrid collaboration, without the friction of previous years.

Blog > January 2026 >

Best Desk Booking System for Hybrid Work Open

January 28, 2026 3 min read

The problem of unmanaged desks

Whether it’s a slick desk booking app or a shared spreadsheet, most hybrid offices share the same headache. People book desks days in advance and never show up, leaving entire rows empty. Meanwhile, others arrive and can’t find a place, leading to seat swapping, wasted time and friction. IT support teams and office admins spend hours adjudicating who sits where when they’d rather be focusing on their own tasks.

It is not uncommon for teams to feel that the hybrid office is chaotic, and it brings them pure frustration when they don’t have a clear system to rely on. There are 2 ways teams deal with tech frustration on-site: they either do not use it or they choose to work from home.

If this sounds familiar, it’s not just you; hybrid offices everywhere are struggling to match flexible schedules with finite space.

40% of hybrid workers cite poor in-office technology as a primary reason for avoiding their company’s physical workspace.
2023 Gartner report

Hybrid offices don’t have to feel this messy. Let’s break down what a good desk booking system should do before you choose one for your office.

What a good desk booking solution needs

A great desk booking system makes the office feel predictable again. It takes the uncertainty out of hybrid work and replaces it with structure. You shouldn’t have to wonder where you’ll sit, whether your teammate’s nearby, or if the floor’s already full.

A floor‑plan view and real‑time availability

People need to see what’s free at a glance. On a good desk booking system, the visual floor‑plan editor lets users reserve a desk directly from the plan and shows which spaces are booked. Simple as that!

Capacity management and occupancy controls

Hybrid offices rarely reach 100 % occupancy. A solid system lets admins set limits on how many people can be in a zone or on a floor and restrict bookings when limits are reached.

Team and area bookings

Sometimes you don’t want individuals scattered randomly; you want a project team together. Look for software that supports team bookings, dedicated desks for specific users, and area control, so only certain departments can book certain zones. This prevents the free‑for‑all that leaves marketing camped in finance’s neighbourhood.

Integrated help and guidance

Change management is tough. A good platform makes it easy for people to learn the system with built‑in help pages and clear cues. It should also provide simple check‑in and check‑out actions so that unused desks free up quickly.

When it comes to integrations, your desk booking system should work with the calendars your people already use. Solutions that integrate with Microsoft 365, Microsoft Exchange and Google Workspace allow employees to reserve desks right from their familiar tools.

When hot desking is the right fit

Hot desking isn’t for everyone; the same goes for RTOs. We think there are specific use cases that could benefit from this solution.

It shines in hybrid offices (e.g., companies with hybrid or field employees or project-based and consulting firms), co‑working hubs and shared office spaces. We covered the perfect use case for hot desking in another article; you can read it here.

If you’re running a dedicated, fully in‑person environment where everyone has a permanent seat, you probably don’t need desk booking software. But if your occupancy fluctuates daily, a well‑implemented hot desking tool is going to remove any desk fights.

Why Door Tablet BOOKER stands out

Let’s talk about solutions!



Door Tablet BOOKER is a fully web‑based, designed to manage desks, and it can be used with or without hardware. Admins can set capacity rules, team‑based bookings and dedicated desks while users can see a live floor plan and book seats in seconds.

Door Tablet BOOKER also stands out for its hardware options. You can deploy interactive displays on desk clusters or use battery‑powered e‑paper displays for low‑cost deployment.

It gives your teams real‑time availability, on‑screen booking, and full visibility across the workplace via the floor plan.

And because it’s built on the same platform as Door Tablet’s meeting‑room displays, the experience is consistent: users can book, extend or cancel their desks or rooms on the device itself, with visual floor‑plan navigation and area‑based controls.

From an IT perspective, BOOKER offers configurable business rules and area‑based restrictions. You decide whether walk‑in bookings are allowed, how long a reservation lasts, and what zones are off limits.

What if you want the benefits of desk booking without placing a device on every desk? Many organisations are opting for a "central hub" approach by deploying a large kiosk in a lobby or communal space. You can display Door Tablet's interactive floor plan on a large-format kiosk in your lobby or at the entrance to a specific floor. Your teams can walk up to the kiosk and instantly visualise all available desks on the floor plan, tap a free space, and secure it on the spot.

Ready to make desks work for people?

If your current desk situation feels like a comedy of errors, it’s time to fix it. A mature hot desking solution does more than assign seats; it brings order to the chaos of hybrid work. Door Tablet BOOKER delivers the floor‑plan visuals, capacity controls and integration you need to make hot desking fair and effortless. Take the next step and see how it can transform your hybrid office. See Door Tablet BOOKER in action.

Blog > January 2026 >

What 2025 Taught us about the Workplace Open

January 7, 2026 5 min read

If you walked into a typical office lobby in January of 2025, the tension was palpable. The elevators were packed, but the vibe was… complicated. We were staring down the barrel of strict Return-to-Office (RTO) mandates, managers were wielding attendance spreadsheets like shields, and employees were frantically trying to figure out if their commute was actually worth the price of admission.

Fast forward to this December, and things feel different. The dust has settled. We aren’t talking about "the return" anymore; we are just talking about work.

2025 wasn’t the year the office died, nor was it the year everyone magically marched back to their cubicles five days a week. Instead, it was the year companies tried to force RTO, but their employees showed them that the old world is gone. Now, the mandates are fading, and we are all just trying to make sense of how the workplace changed this year.

The Return-to-Office Reality Check

Let's get the elephant out of the room: yes, Return to Office  mandates dominated the headlines. Amazon brought 350,000 employees back full-time. JPMorgan Chase ended remote work entirely. The federal government ordered everyone back. Instagram went five days a week while Meta kept its three-day hybrid schedule.

You would think that if the big tech companies summoned everyone back into the office there would be a snowball effect and more companies would follow suit.

Despite the noise, only 27% of companies returned to fully in-person models by the end of 2025, and 67% of companies continued offering some level of flexibility. The most common setup was 3 days per week in the office, with over 50% of companies letting employees choose which days they come in.

The weekly average office utilization of the top 10 U.S. markets hit a new post-pandemic high in January 2025 at 54.2%, and the US national average occupancy rate reached 55.13% in the last week of February 2025. Not bad, but still well below the old five-day-a-week packed offices.

Coffee Badging: The Quiet Rebellion

If you didn't hear about 'coffee badging' in 2025, you were probably happily working remotely. This was the year employees showed up to the office just long enough to swipe their badge, grab a coffee, say hi to a few people, and head back home to actually get work done.

The numbers were wild. 44% of hybrid workers acknowledged coffee badging, and 75% of companies reported struggling with employees coffee badging. Even more surprising? 47% of managers admitted to coffee badging themselves.

Some companies tried to crack down. Samsung rolled out an "RTO monitoring tool" specifically to combat the trend. Amazon managers started having one-on-one conversations with employees about their "meaningful amounts of time" in the office.

The real issue with coffee badging isn't that employees are "gaming" the system; it's that the system has become a game of empty compliance. When 44% of hybrid workers show up just long enough to swipe a badge and grab a latte, it creates a "ghost town" effect where the office is technically full on paper but culturally empty in practice.

This behavior is a massive red flag that your office days are poorly designed, your employees are paying the "commute tax" to tick a mandatory box rather than to collaborate or connect.

Companies that encourage their employees to come into the office must ensure that office activities are actually worth the commute; otherwise, they risk wasting both the facility's potential and the employee's time.

Solving the Commute: The Rise of Regional Hubs

The smartest response to the resistance wasn't stricter rules. It was better locations. 2025 saw the death of the single massive headquarters and the rise of the regional hub.

Rather than maintaining one large central office, companies in both the US and UK opened smaller locations closer to where employees actually lived. Half of UK firms established coworking or satellite offices in suburban or regional locations. In the US, decentralized office spaces including satellite offices and regional workspaces replaced the single-headquarters model.

These weren't full-scale offices. They were collaboration hubs for teams to meet, work together for specific projects, then disperse. They typically offered hot-desking areas, meeting rooms, quiet zones, and social spaces, all tech-enabled for remote collaboration.

Satellite hubs reduced commute time dramatically. Instead of daily 62-minute round trips (the US average), employees traveled 10-15 minutes to local hubs. This preserved some benefits of office work while eliminating the commute penalty. UK research found workers increasingly sought spaces within a 10-minute walk of transport hubs.

Decentralization acknowledges that work happens in networks, not hierarchies, and those networks don't need to be co-located constantly. The traditional hub-and-spoke model (headquarters as hub, everything else as periphery) gave way to distributed networks where any location could serve as a collaboration point. This fundamentally challenged assumptions about office culture requiring everyone in one building.

How People Actually Worked

Beyond the headlines and the hub locations, 2025 gave us hard data on daily work habits. The workforce is no longer a uniform block.



63% of full-time employees were completely on-site, while 9% were fully remote, and 28% worked a hybrid arrangement. But those numbers only tell part of the story.

Hybrid workers were strategic about their office days. They came in for collaboration, team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and relationship-building. They stayed home for deep focus work, individual tasks, and anything requiring uninterrupted concentration. The best organizations designed office days around these patterns instead of fighting them.

Millennials and Gen Z had the most flexible schedules, with about a third of each generation working in a hybrid arrangement. Meanwhile, older workers were more likely to be fully on-site, either by choice or by the nature of their roles.

Finance and consulting firms pushed hardest for in-office presence. Tech companies, despite the headlines, largely stuck with hybrid models.

What we want to see in 2026

IN:

• Designed office days around purposeful collaboration, not performative presence
• Listened to employee feedback and adjusted policies accordingly
• Made the office a destination, not a default

OUT:

• Enforced rigid RTO mandates without explaining the why
• Tracked badge swipes instead of measuring outcomes
• Ignored coffee badging until it became a culture problem
• Assumed employees would just "get over" their desire for flexibility

Looking Ahead

If 2025 taught us anything, it's that superficial fixes don't work. Mandating office days without making them valuable, tracking employee activity without addressing actual engagement, none of these solve the real workplace problems.

The organizations that thrived in 2025 were the ones that stopped pretending they could control every aspect of how work happens. They stopped measuring presence and started measuring outcomes. They stopped surveilling activity and started trusting competence.

With 2026 now in front of us, we can’t wait to see how the workplace evolves this year.

Key Takeaways

• Mandates vs. Reality: While Amazon and JPMorgan made headlines with strict RTO policies, they were the exception. 67% of companies stuck with flexibility, proving hybrid is here to stay.
• The "Commute Tax" is the Enemy: The rise of regional hubs signals a shift away from massive HQs. Companies are slashing the average 62-minute commute to just 15 minutes by meeting employees where they live.
• Coffee Badging is a Symptom, Not a Disease: When 44% of hybrid workers swipe in just to tick a box, it’s a sign that your office design is failing to provide real value.

Blog > December 2025 >

Cubicles Are Back: But What Does That Say About How We Work? Open

December 23, 2025 6 min read

Office design trends tend to swing like a pendulum. A few generations ago, many white-collar workers toiled in private offices or high-walled cubicles, only to see those walls torn down in favour of airy open-plan spaces in the 2000s. Tech companies championed open offices as egalitarian and collaborative, packing employees into “cool” loft-like spaces without partitions. By 2020, roughly two-thirds of U.S. knowledge workers sat in open layouts. But then came the hybrid-work era and a reassessment of what the office is for.

Many find themselves nostalgic for the cubicle – craving the privacy and focus it once afforded. This raises a timely question: are cubicles a relic of the past, or could they be a key tool for today’s workplace? Put differently: can modern, semi-enclosed workstations deliver the focus people want without dragging us back to grey mazes and “Do Not Disturb” signs?

A Brief History of the Cubicle

The cubicle wasn’t created to be soulless or dull; it was born of utopian intentions. In the early 20th century, modernist architects like Frank Lloyd Wright railed against “confines of boxes,” promoting open-plan offices as liberating alternatives to rigid private rooms. Companies adopted open layouts, largely to accommodate more clerks in “white-collar assembly lines” of desks.

By the 1960s, this efficiency drive had drained offices of privacy and personality. Enter the Action Office: a 1964 innovation by Herman Miller (and designer Robert Propst) that introduced modular workstations with partitions, varying desk heights, and larger surfaces. These early cubicles aimed to humanize the office, breaking up endless desk rows into flexible clusters (the German Bürolandschaft, or office landscape) that offered workers a bit of enclosure and personal spaces.



However, the cubicle’s idealistic origins were soon undermined. By 1968, Herman Miller was selling modular cubicle components, which some cost-conscious firms abused – cherry-picking the space-saving aspects (tiny, uniform panels) and discarding the humanising touches. As more companies shifted all ranks of employees (not just clerks) into cubicles, Propst himself regretted the outcome, decrying the “monolithic insanity” he had inadvertently spawned.

In the 1980s and ’90s, the cubicle became ubiquitous and unloved. Pop culture of the late ’90s (from Office Space to Dilbert) immortalised the cube farm as a symbol of corporate drudgery.

Why Did Cubicles Go Away?

The answer lies in a mix of management ideology, economics, and aesthetics. Around the turn of the millennium, a new generation of leaders inspired by Silicon Valley startups viewed cubicles as antithetical to innovation.

The open-plan office promised to break down silos, foster spontaneous collaboration, and equalise the workplace by putting the CEO and intern at identical desks. Google’s widely emulated 2005 headquarters design epitomised this shift. Workers were rebranded as “teams,” managers became “leaders,” and collaborative buzz was seen as the key to creativity. Enclosed workstations felt outdated in this new narrative of transparency and interaction.

Cost was another driving force. In high-rent markets like New York and London, giving everyone a roomy cubicle (let alone a private office) was simply too expensive. Densifying into bench-style desks or tables without partitions allowed companies to lease less space per employee – a tempting proposition for the bottom line.

Indeed, the late 1990s and 2000s saw cubicles rapidly disappear, replaced by seas of shared desks. As one furniture design executive noted, “putting everyone in a cubicle or office was too much, so the open-floor plan became very popular” during that era.

Do Cubicle Offices Still Exist?

Even at the height of the open-office craze, cubicles never disappeared entirely. Some organisations retained some partitioned work areas, especially in industries where noise control or confidentiality is paramount. Government agencies, insurance companies, call centres and other operations handling sensitive data often stuck with low-walled cubicles well into the 2010s. In fact, a sizable global market for office partitions persisted.

Back in  2023, global demand for cubicles and panels was valued at around $6.3 billion and projected to grow to $8+ billion in the next five years. This suggests that tens of millions of people worldwide still sit in semi-enclosed workspaces, even if tech giants and trendsetting startups grab more headlines with their lounge-like open floors.

To be fair, today’s cubicle installations don’t always resemble the classic 1980s cube farm. Many offices have employed a hybrid approach – e.g. clusters of low partitions within a mostly open layout, or high-walled focus booths sprinkled among open team tables. In some modern spaces, you’ll find “pods” or “neighbourhoods” that include a mix of open desks, standing-height counter space, and a few enclosed cubicle-like nooks for quiet work.



The terminology may have shifted (a few companies proudly announce “we installed cubicles!”), but the core concept of partially partitioned personal work areas is still very much alive. And as we’ll explore next, these semi-cubicles might be poised for a modest revival in the near future.

Are Cubicles Coming Back?

There are growing signs that the cubicle – or at least the idea of more enclosed individual space – is making a comeback in response to post-pandemic workplace needs. In late 2023, The New York Times reported a renewed interest in cubicles as companies seek to address noise and privacy complaints in open offices. With widespread hybrid work, employees now often come into the office specifically to do work they can’t easily do at home (e.g. access specialised equipment, meet with colleagues) – but they also expect the office to support concentration. Janet Pogue McLaurin, a workplace research leader at Gensler, noted that when workers returned after months at home, “quiet spaces became more important” because many offices had seen “a drop in effectiveness due to noise interruptions, disruptions and a general lack of privacy”.

In other words, the mass experiment of remote work taught employees what uninterrupted focus feels like, and they’re now less tolerant of the open-plan racket.

Orders for partitions and modular walls are rising (on track for ~30% growth this decade), and office furniture makers are rolling out new product lines that reinvent the cubicle for modern needs. Today’s designs are not your father’s gray fabric boxes: modern cubicles are more flexible and stylish. Some high-end models include sound masking systems or sliding doors. The goal is to create a “semi-private haven” within a busy office,  a place where an employee can take a video call or work on a focused task without being both visually and audibly exposed to the entire floor.

56% of organisations are adding private phone booths and focus rooms for privacy

It’s worth noting that the push for cubicles 2.0 isn’t solely driven by pandemic-related health concerns (though plexiglass shields did briefly pop up everywhere in 2020). Even before COVID, many companies had begun sprinkling phone booths and focus pods into open layouts. The pandemic accelerated this by highlighting airborne risks and the value of physical separation, but arguably the bigger driver now is productivity and preference.

In a mid-2025 occupancy planning survey, 56% of companies said they were adding private phone booths or focus rooms to meet employee needs for privacy, even as they also expand collaboration areas. After more than a decade of “open everything,” design strategies are shifting to reintroduce more enclosure for focused work while still enabling teamwork.

Do People Like Working in Cubicles?

Do people like cubicles? It depends on the proportion you have. Go all-in on cubicles and you risk a flat, isolating vibe; go all-in on open plan and you fuel noise, distractions, and headset culture. Most teams are unhappy at either extreme.

When the balance tilts too far open, focus drops fast: 63% of employees say they lack a quiet place to work, 75% admit they leave the office just to concentrate, and only 1% feel able to block out distractions. An open office layout helps some tasks, but not deep work.

You can swing the other way with wall-to-wall cubes and it can be just as problematic. Only 12% of U.S. office workers say they prefer a traditional cubicle layout (Gensler). High, uniform panels dull energy, reduce visibility, and make chance interactions less likely.

The sweet spot is a mix, not a monoculture. A clear majority (65%) prefer open areas for group work plus genuinely quiet, semi-enclosed spots for focus (Gensler). Where noise is controlled, employees report higher ability to work productively; private offices top acoustic satisfaction at 56%, while bench seating sits at 28%. In practice, that means just-enough walls where and when people need them, that’s privacy on demand without killing the vibe.

Cubicles as a Tool, Not a Doctrine

Reconsidering cubicles doesn’t mean swinging the pendulum all the way back to the era of identical boxes and maze-like layouts. It means acknowledging that the “one big room” open-office experiment has its shortcomings, and that a balanced workplace includes some places to tune out and focus. The cubicle, in its updated forms, is simply one tool among many to craft a high-performing office. Just as we have embraced agile, activity-based work and remote connectivity, we can also embrace a bit more physical delineation in the office when it helps people do their best work.

If there is one takeaway from this article, it is that no single office layout wins universally. A mix of open and enclosed, communal and private, assigned and flexible – tailored to an organisation’s unique needs – tends to yield the best outcomes. So rather than asking “open plan or cubicles, which is better?”, the forward-thinking question is “what is the right combination of spaces for our people and our work patterns?”

Cubicles still have a role, but not as a doctrine forced on everyone, but as a flexible tool deployed with purpose.

Blog > December 2025 >

Office Space 2030: The Future of Where and How We Will Work Open

December 9, 2025 6 min read

Over the past few decades, every shift in office design has reflected the pressures and priorities of its time. Cubicles, which became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s, were intended to provide focus but often turned into impersonal grids that prioritised efficiency over satisfaction. Open-plan layouts followed in the 2000s, mirroring the push for transparency and collaboration, even if they often created more distractions than teamwork. Activity-based working grew as knowledge workers demanded flexibility, offering a menu of spaces to match different tasks. And most recently, hybrid work has risen after 2020 not as a fad but as a practical solution to a workforce that values autonomy, mobility, and choice.

Each stage of this evolution has reshaped the culture of work. From cubicles to activity-based working, and now to hybrid setups powered by technology, the office has been in constant flux.

With so many rapid shifts, we can’t help but wonder: what’s the next big thing? If the last few decades have taught us anything, it’s that the office is a living experiment. Each wave of change reveals what employees value most: focus, flexibility, and seamless collaboration. As we look ahead to 2030, the question isn’t whether the office will change again, but how.

In the sections that follow, we’ll explore what the next era might look like: the evolution of office layouts, the rise of well-being and sustainability, the role of smart technology, and why these elements will define the future of work.

How will The Workplace Experience look like in 2030?

Hybrid & Flexible Layouts

The office is no longer a one-size-fits-all environment. Instead of rows of identical desks, companies are carving offices into choice-based zones. Need deep focus? Retreat to a silent library-style zone or acoustic pod. Need collaboration? Head to the café area or huddle space.

The numbers confirm the trend. Collaborative “we” spaces now take up 20% of office floor plans (up from 14% in 2021), while personal “me” spaces like assigned desks have shrunk. And the open office, once hailed as the future, is losing ground: workers in open-plan setups report 86 minutes of lost productivity per day and higher stress levels.

It is safe to say that employees thrive when they can choose how and where to work. Hybrid offices resolve the open-office vs. private-office debate not by picking one side, but by offering both.

Vertical Offices & Destination Villages

In dense cities, high-rises are evolving into vertical campuses. Instead of just stacked floors of desks, they feature sky gardens, rooftop running tracks, atriums, and lounges that create community within towers. Google’s London HQ, for example, includes a 300-meter rooftop garden with over 250 trees.

Beyond verticality, the “destination office” is emerging. Companies are designing workspaces as villages: places with wellness centres, stylish cafés, gyms, event spaces, and even childcare. The goal is to make the office a destination worth visiting, blending work with lifestyle. We already see this happening; employees need a reason to be in the office and to justify the commute.

This shift also leans on resimercial design, blending residential comfort with commercial function. Offices now include cosy couches, warm lighting, and hotel-like lobbies. Employees compare the office not to competitors, but to the comfort of home. If the workplace feels sterile, it loses.

Intergenerational & Inclusive Design

For the first time, five generations are working side by side. Gen Z expects mobility, Millennials want collaboration, Gen X values balance, Boomers often prefer structure, and workplaces need to cater to all.

Inclusive design means ergonomic chairs and sit-stand desks for comfort, plus informal zones for younger staff. It means quiet rooms, prayer and lactation spaces, and accessible navigation for employees of all abilities. With 15–20% of the workforce being neurodivergent, focus pods and sensory-friendly zones are becoming standard.

Inclusivity isn’t just physical. Policies and culture matter too: flexible hours for caregivers, anchor collaboration days for hybrid consistency, and technology that works for everyone.

People-Centric Office Spaces

Smart, Health-Driven Furniture & Materials

Smart desks and chairs auto-adjust to posture, remind users to move, and track usage patterns to encourage healthier routines. Lighting systems mimic natural daylight to support circadian rhythms, while antimicrobial surfaces and improved air filtration reduce health risks.

Offices are being reimagined not just as places to work, but as spaces that reinforce community and connection. Preventive healthcare can become a staple in the workplace: wearables and health apps can track stress, hydration, or heart rate, nudging employees toward healthier habits.

Biophilic Design, Climate, and Sustainability

Offices rich in greenery and daylight report 15% higher well-being and 20% fewer sick days. Plants, greenhouse-style spaces, and water features will be central to 2030 workplaces.

Yet sustainability now goes hand-in-hand with climate resilience. Rising global temperatures and extreme weather events will push companies to invest in green infrastructure, cooling strategies, and resilient buildings. Carbon tracking and circular design will be embedded in how offices operate, with governments moving from incentives to mandates. The workplace of 2030 will have to function as part of broader climate adaptation strategies.

Takeaway for workplace experience teams: Employees expect workplaces that safeguard both their personal health and the planet. Offices that respond to climate pressures while offering wellness-first environments will stand out as magnets for talent.

Technology & Smart Workspaces

When we think about the office of 2030, maybe the real question isn’t what new tools will appear, but how the way we work will end up defining both the walls around us and the technology inside them. In this section, we have more questions than answers because the future of the office has many variables.

Let’s look at a little bit of the demographic variable. Many economies will soon have more retirees than active workers. With fewer people commuting in, do offices shrink, becoming smaller, smarter spaces with modular layouts and more shared zones? Or does the opposite happen? If leaner teams have to cover more ground, will we end up spending more time in the office, maybe even six days a week, simply because there are fewer of us to do the work?

Then there’s AI. According to the World Economic Forum, 86% of employers expect AI and information-processing technologies to transform their businesses by 2030. Does that mean the classic five-day office week dissolves into four, because automation handles routine tasks and human effort is focused on higher-value, collaborative work? Or does AI amplify the need for training, peer-to-peer learning, and knowledge sharing, making the office even more of a hub than it is today?

There was this interesting article that argued that as AI takes over more technical tasks, companies will shift their recruitment focus away from hard skills and toward soft skills like adaptability. According to the World Economic Forum, 44% of today’s tech skills will be irrelevant by 2027, and IBM research shows that most technical skills lose half their value in just two years.

If adaptability becomes the new hiring priority, offices will need to support constant learning and reinvention. Instead of floor plans dominated by rows of desks, we may see layouts that emphasise training rooms, peer-to-peer learning hubs, and flexible project spaces where employees can continuously reskill. Cultural and social areas could play a bigger role too, helping teams build the trust and collaboration that adaptability demands.

Technology will play its part in redefining the layout. AR, VR, and telepresence robots could become part of everyday coordination with global teams. Can you imagine having your stand-up meeting via VR? This raises another question: will we need fewer meeting rooms if much of this happens in the metaverse? Or will we need different kinds of meeting rooms as immersive spaces that allow physical and virtual participants to connect seamlessly?

“Holding meetings in virtual reality, offices that people ‘visit’ by donning a stereo headset are a distinct possibility five years from now [...] Workers may remotely attend physical meetings by inhabiting a telepresence robot.”
- Christopher Barnatt, associate professor of computing and future studies at Nottingham University

With AI-assisted generative design, offices could adjust based on live data thanks to IoT solutions: natural light, foot traffic, and energy use. Imagine partitions that move, clusters that re-form, or HVAC systems that adapt in real time to how people are working.

Can Workplace Experience Be a Competitive Advantage?

What if the office itself becomes a company’s sharpest strategic tool? Not just a cost centre, but the place where talent decides whether to stay, grow, and give their best work. Studies suggest it already matters: engaged employees are 13% more productive, while organisations that prioritise experience see up to 4x higher profits.

It is encouraging to see that 74% of organisations have already implemented, or reported they would implement, employee experience platforms by 2025.

It shows that companies investing in employee experience are already seeing results, and it will be interesting to watch how these strategies evolve, not just in policies, but in the design of offices, the layouts we work in, and the perks that bring people together.

Our Predictions and Commitment

By 2030, the office won’t just be a building where work happens. It will be a hub of culture, resilience, and human connection in a world defined by uncertainty. Hybrid work will be the baseline, but what will truly set organisations apart is how intentionally they design spaces to foster belonging and adaptability.
We predict workplaces will feel more like communities: flexible layouts supporting collaboration, biophilic spaces protecting well-being, AI and automation smoothing logistics, and immersive technologies bridging distances.

At Door Tablet, we believe this is the future of work. Our meeting room tablets, hot-desking solutions, and wayfinding systems are designed to help organisations build workplaces that employees choose, not endure. The future of work with Door Tablet is about enabling offices that energise, connect, and inspire teams.

Blog > July 2025 >

Bring Teams Back to the Office Without the Pushback Open

July 15, 2025 3 min read

So the return-to-office mandate is in place. People are coming in. Desks are being claimed. Coffee machines are back in use. But here's the thing HR and workplace experience teams know better than anyone: just because people are in the office doesn’t mean they’re comfortable being there.

This next chapter is less about enforcing attendance and more about shaping an experience worth showing up for. You’re not just managing a seating chart. You’re managing uncertainty, social energy, friction, and a hundred invisible emotional checklists.

Here’s how to turn those awkward first few weeks into a smooth, even enjoyable, transition.

Start with Autonomy, Not Attendance

Fun fact: Many Gen Z workers started their careers remotely and have had little to no in-person office experience. Some were in high school or university when the world went virtual. Crazy, right? Gen Z is actually leading the return-to-office charge, averaging three days a week on-site, according to JLL. They want the best of both worlds: face time and remote time.

Give people a reason to show up - on their own terms. Because the reality is, no one likes being told where to work. But they will come in if they know their team will be there, if there’s a purpose to the day, or if the space makes the work easier.

• Let teams co-create their schedules. Instead of blanket rules, encourage team-level norms. This gives employees ownership and clarity.
• Surface the "who's in" intel. Visibility is everything. The more people know, the easier it is to plan meaningful in-office time.
• Connect the why. Whether it's access to mentorship, better collaboration, or just getting out of the house, tie office days to actual benefits, not obligations.

Flexibility = a retention tool. People are far more likely to leave a company if they feel forced into rigid schedules that don’t fit their lives. In fact, 48% of workers say they would consider quitting if forced into full-time office attendance. That number jumps to 58% for women, compared to 42% for men.

Eliminate the Friction Nobody Talks About

You’ve got them in the building—great. Now don’t lose them to bad systems.

• Fix the basics. Room panels should reflect real-time bookings. Desk reservations shouldn’t be a guessing game. Wi-fi should be working smoothly.
• Invest in wayfinding. Whether it’s your first day or your first time on the third floor, people appreciate knowing where to go.
• Remove friction. There is no need to ask the receptionist to book a room for you. Your people should be able to schedule a room in a few seconds.

CBRE reports that 63% of employees have been unable to find a meeting room despite seeing open ones. That’s not a design issue. It’s a systems fail.

Design for How People Work

Today’s office shouldn’t feel like a throwback to 2019. It should meet people where they are now and how they get work done.

• Variety wins. Quiet zones. Collaboration hubs. Private nooks. Mix it up.
• Keep it flexible. Modular furniture, movable whiteboards, and reservable everything give teams the freedom to adapt.
• Listen to the data. Sensors and booking analytics show what’s working and what’s not. Use it.

Workplace design isn’t about fitting more people into fewer square feet. It’s about building spaces that support energy, focus, and flow.

Prioritise People, Not Policy

Your space can be beautiful, your tech flawless, and your snacks on point, but if you prioritise the return-to-office mandate over your employees' readiness to come back, it all falls flat.

You risk losing the trust and engagement that make a workplace thrive. People want to feel like they matter more than a policy. They want to be seen not just as headcount, but as humans with different rhythms, needs, and boundaries.

So if you’re trying to make the return to office feel a little more human, think about it like this:

• Normalise the nerves. Social anxiety, burnout, and change fatigue—these are real. Create space to talk about it (tap into mental health services)
• Ditch the pressure. Make social events optional, inclusive, and low-key.
• Make the office worth the trip. Highlight what they can’t get at home: face time with leaders, faster decisions, spontaneous chats, or even just a better space to focus.

Your RTO Readiness Checklist

Because the difference between a good return and a painful one is usually the little things.

☑️ Reliable tech (Wi-Fi, video conference tech, room booking systems)
☑️ Clear visibility into who’s in when
☑️ Purpose-driven space variety (quiet, social, private)
☑️ Clean, comfortable, stocked environment
☑️ Clear, consistent communication
☑️ An HR open line for ongoing feedback

Strategy Over Space

A successful return strategy centres on emotion as much as logistics. It’s about helping people reconnect on their own terms, building in flexibility, and showing that their personal work styles and preferences aren’t just tolerated but respected.

Ready to make your RTO strategy work for your people? Door Tablet  helps you simplify bookings, reduce first-day friction, and create a workplace experience worth showing up for.

Blog > June 2025 >

Is the Office Still Worth It for Collaboration? Open

June 26, 2025 3 min read

Let’s answer the question: Is it still worth it for team collaboration? This is the question many workplace leaders are asking. After all, tools like video calls and chat apps connect us from anywhere. So, what unique value does in-person office time offer for collaboration? Let’s explore the latest research and data (2023–2025) to find out.

Building Connection and Culture

An area where the office shines is in human connection and company culture. Working remotely can feel isolating – video meetings can’t fully replace grabbing lunch or chatting in person. 95% of professionals say face-to-face meetings are key to successful long-term work relationships. That’s because trust and camaraderie often grow faster when we share space. Casual conversations and non-verbal cues (a reassuring smile in a meeting, a quick high-five after a win) help build team rapport. It’s no surprise that full-time remote workers have 33% fewer friends at work on average than office workers. Over time, that can impact engagement and loyalty.

Gallup’s 2023 data echoes this: as employees returned on-site more, employee engagement scores improved, whereas remote workers’ sense of connection to their organisation’s mission fell to a record low. Being physically present helps reinforce a shared purpose. There’s an energy in a buzzing office that’s hard to emulate virtually – think of the excitement after a big client win, or the collective focus right before a deadline. These in-person experiences strengthen culture and create a sense of belonging.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean everyone wants a full return to the old 9-to-5. Most people now desire a mix: flexibility to work from home and time together in the office. Multiple surveys (Gallup, Cisco, etc.) find that about 75% of employees want a hybrid arrangement – the freedom to focus at home sometimes, plus opportunities to gather in person.

This implies that while employees value the office for collaboration and community, they also expect it to serve a clear purpose. People are increasingly asking, “Why am I commuting in today?” If the answer is “to sit alone on video calls”, then the office trip feels pointless.

On the other hand, if the day promises meaningful face-to-face work – a planning workshop, team brainstorming, client visit, or simply bonding with coworkers – then coming in is worth it.

Evolving Employee Expectations

If the office is to remain a vibrant hub of collaboration, its design and management need to align with evolving employee expectations. It starts with the physical layout.



Studies show that proximity and sightlines dramatically influence how people share knowledge. For example, research published by the National Library of Medicine found that layout characteristics like the percentage of floor space dedicated to shared services and the visibility across different areas are closely linked to effective knowledge sharing. Likewise, a Harvard Business Review analysis revealed that nearly two-thirds of all in-person interactions happen at employees’ desks, while just 9% occur in communal zones such as corridors or cafés, highlighting how desk clusters serve as unrecognised collaboration hubs.

These insights argue against rigid rows of cubicles or isolated private offices. Instead, many organisations are moving toward flexible, open layouts: intermingled workstations, project rooms, huddle nooks, and casual lounges, all interspersed with quiet zones for focused tasks.

The aim is to make chance encounters and the spontaneous idea‐sharing that they spark as effortless as possible, signalling that collaboration is welcome here.
Technology in the office is another critical enabler. To compete with the seamless setup at home, workplaces must offer frictionless tools for teamwork.

Smart room-booking systems remove the friction. Mounting interactive displays outside conference rooms provides real-time availability and one-tap reservations on the spot. Pair that with desks outfitted with ready-to-dock monitors, instant-on collaborative screens, and digital whiteboards, and the office transforms from a mere workspace into a destination for productive, inspired collaboration—one that employees actively choose over staying at home.

So, Is the Office Still Worth It?

Considering the evidence, the physical office still holds a unique value for team collaboration, but only if we use it purposefully. In-person workplaces excel at sparking creativity, trust, and camaraderie in ways that virtual setups struggle to match. They offer fertile ground for mentorship and “aha moments” born from casual interactions. That said, simply dragging everyone back under a single roof won’t automatically revive these benefits. The post-2020 workforce expects more.

Workplace leaders need to ensure the office is worth the commute by aligning it with what people now want: meaningful face-to-face engagement, modernised spaces, and supportive tools and amenities.

Rather than thinking of the office as an obligation, think of it as a tool – one that, when optimised, can greatly amplify collaboration and innovation.

The question for workplace leaders isn’t “office or no office?” so much as “what kind of office experience will best unlock my team’s potential?”. If your office becomes a place where people genuinely connect, share ideas freely, and feel part of something bigger, then yes – it’s still worth it for collaboration.

The challenge (and opportunity) lies in making your office that kind of place in this new era of work.

Blog > June 2025 >

How to Support Hybrid Work as a Workplace Leader Open

June 17, 2025 7 min read

Picture your workplace today: on one end of the office, a team is back at their desks five days a week, like it’s 2019; down the hall (or on the screen), another group splits time between home and office. This mix of full-time in-office and hybrid employees has become a new work style on its own, and let’s be honest, it’s not always easy to manage.

In fact, in many cities, office occupancy is still hovering around 50%, never returning to pre-2020 levels. By early 2024, roughly 65% of companies offered flexible or hybrid work options, while only 35% still mandated a five-day office week.

At the same time, some executives are pushing for more face time, worried about productivity or team cohesion. The reality for HR leaders and office managers is that you can’t turn back the clock. The challenge (and opportunity) is finding practical ways to support everyone – those in-office daily and those popping in weekly – so that work gets done and people stay happy.

With the right principles and a little technology, you can create a workplace where hybrid teams thrive together.

Key Principles for a Successful Hybrid Workplace

Flexibility

If there’s one lesson from the past few years, it’s that flexibility is a requirement for many employees. People have grown used to having more control over where and when they work, and they’re not eager to give that up. Offering flexibility pays off: rigorous research from Stanford University found that employees working from home 2 days a week were just as productive and just as likely to be promoted as their fully in-office peers.

 “A culture that respects personal schedules and work-life balance will earn trust and loyalty." 

Just as importantly, those hybrid schedules dramatically boosted retention – resignations fell by 33% among workers who moved from five days in-office to a 2–3 day hybrid schedule. In other words, flexibility can keep your best people on board. Whether it’s letting staff choose which days to come in or adopting core hours with schedule fluidity around them, a culture that respects personal schedules and work-life balance will earn trust and loyalty.

As one workplace index report put it, companies that let employees lead the choice of in-office days saw greater expected revenue gains from hybrid work than those enforcing strict schedules.

For HR and office leaders, try to be flexible. Use policies as guardrails rather than shackles, and be willing to adapt as needs change.

Visibility and Coordination

One practical headache in hybrid teams is simply knowing who will be in the office on any given day. “Is Jane coming in on Thursday, or working from home? And which days is the design team here together?” Without some visibility into people’s schedules, hybrid can feel disjointed.

It makes sense – nobody wants to trek to HQ only to find their key collaborators are all remote that day. This is why a core principle of successful hybrid workplaces is transparency about schedules.

Some companies set up team-wide calendars or Slack channels where everyone posts their in-office days. Others designate “anchor days” when certain teams will gather in person. The goal is to avoid guesswork. Interestingly, data shows a mid-week “mountain” pattern has emerged: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are consistently the most popular office days. Why?

Employees deliberately flock to the office when they know their colleagues will be there – the chance to connect and collaborate in person helps justify the commute.

Workplace leaders can tap into this dynamic by facilitating schedule-sharing. Encourage teams to coordinate days for face-to-face time, and consider tools (which we’ll discuss soon) that let employees easily see who plans to be on-site.

Visibility into “who’s where” takes the awkwardness out of hybrid scheduling and helps everyone feel more connected, no matter where they’re working from.

Meeting Equity and Inclusion

If you’ve ever been the lone person dialled into a meeting while everyone else is in a conference room, you know how it feels to be an afterthought. Meeting equity means making sure remote and in-person participants can contribute on equal footing. That’s basically the norm.

The downside is that many have experienced the technical hiccups or communication gaps that come with it. In a sample of a study of  3,290 employees at a major technology company, researchers found that more than 80% of respondents reported losing time in remote or hybrid meetings because of audio/video quality or reliability issues.

And beyond technology, there’s the human factor of “out of sight, out of mind.” Without intentional effort, remote staff can end up overlooked. A recent analysis found that fully remote workers were promoted 31% less frequently than peers who spent at least some time in the office.

In one CEO survey, 90% of leaders admitted they’re more likely to give raises or promotions to the people they see in-person,  a stark reminder of how real proximity bias can be. To counter this, organisations must bake inclusivity into their culture. Make it a norm that all meetings include ways for remote folks to actively participate (and discourage side conversations in the room that leave others out).

• Rotate meeting times if you have distributed teams in multiple time zones, so no one is constantly stuck calling in at 6 AM or 9 PM.

• Train managers and employees on inclusive meeting practices

• Deliberately asking remote attendees for their input, or using features like “hand raise” and chat to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.

• Meeting equity prevents your hybrid talent from disengaging or missing opportunities. It creates a level playing field where the best ideas, not just the loudest voices in the room, can surface.

An example of a hybrid meeting: an in-office presenter addresses both colleagues in the room and remote participants on the screen. Ensuring all participants can see, hear, and be heard equally is vital for meeting equity.

Space Availability and Smart Utilization

Finally, let’s talk about the physical workspace itself. In a hybrid scenario, not everyone is showing up at once, which means on some days your office might feel half-empty, while on peak days you’re suddenly scrambling to find a free conference room.

The principle here is to ensure that whenever someone comes into the office, they can easily find a place to work and the resources they need. Space availability should be a solved problem, not a source of frustration (“Why can’t I find an open meeting room? Who took my usual desk?”). It’s not just about desks either: consider collaboration spaces, phone booths for private calls, and quiet corners for focus work.

Do you have enough of each on the days they’re in demand? One practical approach is to use data (or even simple observation) to understand your office usage patterns. Maybe you’ll find that your 20-person conference room rarely has more than 5 people, suggesting it could be converted into two smaller rooms or a lounge. Or you might discover that Mondays and Fridays are consistently light while mid-week is crunch time, which could inform whether you institute “team days” or stagger schedules. The key principle is availability, people should trust that if they commute in, they won’t be fighting for a chair or wasting time hunting for a meeting room to meet. That reliability encourages employees to use the office to its fullest potential on the days they do come in. In turn, you get more efficient use of space and potentially lower real-estate costs by trimming excess when you realise you simply don’t need a cavern of empty cubicles anymore.

Workplace Management Technology to Make Hybrid Work

If flexible policies and new norms are the ingredients of hybrid success, technology is the glue that holds it all together day-to-day. Let’s look at a few areas where tech can make an immediate difference: meeting room booking, collaboration, and feedback.

1. Smart Space Booking
One of the most tangible challenges in a hybrid office is booking and managing shared spaces – desks, meeting rooms, and other resources.

You’ve probably seen these slick tablet screens mounted outside conference rooms, glowing green or red to show if the room is free or in use. These room display panels (often tied into your company calendar system) let anyone see at a glance when a space is available and even reserve it on the spot with a tap. This eliminates the classic game of conference-room musical chairs and prevents double-bookings or awkward interruptions (it’s quite possible that, at some point during the meeting, someone interrupted you to inform you that they’d already booked the space or that your time is up.)

Likewise, similar tech exists for desk booking. For example, employees can use a desktop interface to reserve a desk for the days they plan to be in. Some offices even have kiosks or small displays at each desk that indicate if it’s booked or free. The benefit here is huge: visibility and certainty.

A hybrid worker can decide “I’m going to head in on Wednesday” and quickly ensure they have a workstation and any needed equipment ready. No more wandering the floor hoping to find an empty seat with a tech stack like theirs.

On the management side, these tools give you a real-time pulse on how your office is being used. You can see which desks are booked, when demand peaks during the week, and even who's making the reservations.

Pair that with check-in hardware, and you’ll gain visibility into no-shows, as well as booked desks that remain empty. These insights make it easier to right-size your spaces, add more of what people need, and rework areas that aren’t pulling their weight. It’s about using data to shape a better workplace experience, not just for today, but as your team grows and shifts.

The result is a more predictable and efficient office for all.

2. Collaboration and Meeting Tech
To support meeting equity and effective teamwork, invest in solid collaboration technology – both software and hardware. This doesn’t mean you need the fanciest, flashiest gadgets, but rather reliable tools that everyone knows how to use.

A few years ago, many companies scrambled to outfit conference rooms with new video conferencing gear, and that effort continues to evolve. In practical terms, ensure that your meeting rooms have quality cameras and microphones so remote attendees can see and hear clearly. (There’s nothing worse than being remote and hearing muffled echoes of 10 people talking over a single laptop mic.)

Hardware: Many organisations are opting for 360° conference cameras or ceiling-mounted mics that pick up audio evenly, so that a person sitting in the far corner of the room isn’t a silent blur to those calling in.

Software: Choose a video conferencing platform and stick with it company-wide if possible, to streamline the experience. It could be Zoom, Teams, Google Meet – whatever fits – but make sure it’s integrated with your calendars.

Also, consider virtual whiteboard apps or meeting room tech like interactive displays that allow in-person and remote folks to brainstorm together in real time. The aim is to create an environment where, whether someone is sitting in the office or logging in from home, they have the same ability to contribute and access information. And don’t overlook training – even the best tools fail if people don’t know how to use them.

Hold short workshops or share tips on running effective hybrid meetings (for instance, encourage everyone to join the video call even if a few are together in the room, so that each face appears in a tile and remote colleagues don’t feel like fly-on-the-wall observers). With the right mix of tech and thoughtful usage, you can virtually “collapse the distance” between remote and in-office staff, making teamwork feel natural regardless of location.

Discover how to design a workspace that makes the commute worthwhile here.

3. Data and Feedback Loops
One cool advantage of using digital tools to run your hybrid office is that they generate data, and data, used wisely, can help you continuously improve the workplace experience.

For example, those desk and room booking systems can usually produce reports on occupancy rates: you might discover that Mondays see only 30% of desks reserved, while Wednesdays peak at 90%. This kind of insight allows you to anticipate needs (maybe you decide to experiment with turning some empty Monday space into a quiet zone or offering incentives to come in on typically empty Fridays).

The goal isn’t to monitor individual employees’ every move – it’s to get a high-level view of patterns so you can shape an office that truly fits your workforce’s habits. Data can also fuel feedback to employees: some companies share anonymised usage stats to encourage better choices (like, “Hey, we noticed everyone is scheduling meetings at 10 am sharp – consider using the whole hour, like 9:30 or 10:30, to ease room congestion”). Beyond the hard numbers, keep human feedback loops open as well.

Regularly ask your hybrid employees how it’s going. Are they struggling with any aspect of the setup? Maybe an employee survey reveals that people working from home feel out of the loop on announcements, so you might beef up how you communicate news via digital channels.

In short, close the loop: implement tech, gather data, listen to people, and refine your hybrid strategy continuously.

Conclusion: What It Takes to Build a Great Hybrid Office

As a leader in HR, people operations, or facilities management, your role is pivotal in knitting together the experience for those in-office and those remote so that everyone can do their best work. 

The task may seem daunting at times (juggling the needs of two “worlds”), but remember the upside: when hybrid is done right, you truly get the best of both. Employees gain flexibility and work-life balance, yet still enjoy in-person camaraderie and collaboration. Employers can cast a wider talent net and often see improved retention and engagement.

Supporting hybrid work is an ongoing journey, but one that can fundamentally transform your organisation for the better. As Professor Nicholas Bloom’s research showed, hybrid can truly be a “win-win-win” for productivity, performance, and retention. In a world where work can happen anywhere, how you bring people together (physically and virtually) is the new secret sauce of a thriving workplace. With intention and a bit of creativity, you can make hybrid work work for everyone.

Door Tablet gives every office style the structure it needs to work well. We treat workplace friction as a system problem, removing office chaos so your team can find clarity. Our workspace management solutions stop the daily scramble and help people focus on their actual jobs. Book a demo today.

Blog > May 2025 >

Making the Office Spaces Worth the Commute Open

May 15, 2025 4 min read

Key Takeaways

• The office purpose gap is widening. Employees feel the 2025 return-to-office push is arbitrary because they are commuting simply to perform the same video calls and tasks they could complete at home.
• Space wastage remains a systemic issue. Pre-pandemic data from Microsoft showed that 20% of meeting rooms were reserved but never actually used. Without smart systems, these "ghost meetings" continue to waste valuable real estate.
• Autonomy is the primary driver of satisfaction. Studies indicate that comfort and a sense of choice over one's environment significantly boost performance and well-being.

The Need for a Compelling Return

2025 has been the year of full-time RTO requests from big companies like Amazon or JPMorgan. We continue to see more and more companies requesting employees to come back full-time to the office this year. But despite these announcements, many employers didn’t take into consideration that the office is still designed for another era. 

Employees now feel they’re being asked to commute just to sit at a desk and do the same work they could easily accomplish from home. It's not a compelling trade-off, and it’s not very encouraging if companies want to maintain long-term RTO success.

For many employees, the office no longer matches how they work best. The post-pandemic shift gave people a taste of autonomy, flexibility, and balance.

Jennifer Moss, workplace strategist and author of Why Are We Here?, notes that too many companies are trying to execute the office “in the same way that it used to be.”

“You’re still on Zoom, still doing the same work you did at home—but now with a commute,” she explains. Without meaningful changes to space and purpose, the return feels arbitrary, not inspiring.

Another layer that shakes these full-time RTOs policies is trust. John Frehse of Ankura warns that mandating office time without explaining the benefits signals a lack of trust. “You only trust me when I’m in the office?” That unspoken message undercuts employee morale.

And then there are the everyday office frustrations.

Before the pandemic, office life had its fair share of headaches. Employees dealt with open-plan spaces where it was nearly impossible to concentrate because every conversation became background noise. Meeting rooms got double-booked, while others struggled to find a space or even schedule one directly. Desks were either too limited or not personalised, and the layout made it hard to find a quiet corner or a collaborative space that supported productive individual time or team interaction.

People now expect environments that support both in-person connection and individual productivity, along with seamless integration of digital tools.

There is a deeper issue beyond outdated layouts and logistical frustrations: control.

When employees work from home, they’re in charge of their environment. They can choose how, when, and where they work best—whether that’s total silence, a standing desk, or a mid-afternoon break that recharges them. In contrast, many office spaces strip away that autonomy. You're tied to a fixed desk, have limited privacy, and have rigid routines.

This loss of control directly affects job satisfaction. This study shows that comfort and a sense of choice significantly boost performance and well-being. When people feel their environment is working with them, not against them, they're more engaged, more productive, and more likely to view the office as a valuable part of their working week. Without that, returning to the office starts to feel more like a burden than a benefit.

“Office-space preferences can push employees away from on-site working, influencing their hybrid-work preferences.”
- Lila Skountridaki

Giving employees the control they need, not just cubicles

So, what does a workplace look like when it supports control instead of removing it?

Employees want to decide how, where, and when they work best. That doesn’t mean a free-for-all; it means designing systems and spaces that enable flexibility without descending into chaos.

And this is where tech and culture meet.

Because when culture says, “we trust you”, and technology says, “we’ve got the tools to support you”, employee autonomy becomes possible. Not just over tasks, but over environments, schedules, and energy.

Tech can’t fix culture, but it can remove friction

That sense of control is what makes coming into the office feel worth it again. When people have ownership of their time and environment, it leads to better focus, stronger collaboration.

1. Smart meeting room booking

Say goodbye to calendar chaos. Intelligent room booking systems integrate with calendars, detect occupancy, and release unused spaces. This prevents bottlenecks and ghost meetings—an issue that used to plague large firms pre-pandemic.

Microsoft reported that 20% of meeting rooms were reserved but never used in pre-COVID offices. With hybrid now in play, automation can bring balance and fairness to space usage.

2. Desk booking & workplace wayfinding

Flexibility is only empowering when it’s organised. Desk booking apps let employees reserve their spot, see where their team is sitting, or find quiet zones based on mood or task. It also means that Facility Managers can track usage and adapt layouts dynamically.

3. Noise zoning & adaptive spaces

Open-plan designs aren't inherently bad, but they need structure. Sound masking tech, acoustic sensors, and smart zoning allow offices to flex between collaborative buzz and focused silence. Think of it as giving people a volume knob on their day.

4. Hybrid-ready AV and meeting equity

“Can you hear me?” shouldn’t be the soundtrack of a hybrid call. High-quality microphones, auto-framing cameras, and inclusive layouts ensure remote participants feel equally involved. Tools like Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms now support intelligent framing and transcription, making the office a place where hybrid meetings work.

5. Smart signage and spontaneous interaction

Use real-time digital signage to promote the community: highlight who's in today, upcoming events, or ad-hoc lunch-and-learns. Encourage spontaneous coffee chats, project brainstorms, or cross-team mixers that remote work can’t replicate.

Culture doesn’t live in code, but it does need space

Yes, culture is built by people. But it also needs the right conditions to thrive. Offices must be designed for belonging, mentoring, casual exchange, and moments of creativity that are hard to schedule but powerful to experience.

In other words, giving people a reason to show up.

“When we’re trying to get people back into the office, we still are executing the office in the same way that it used to be. We just can’t jam the toothpaste back in the tube.” - Jennifer Moss

This doesn’t require a full rebuild. Even small, intentional changes can go a long way:

• Curating zones for heads-down work, collaboration, and casual connection
• Using sensors and occupancy analytics to understand how spaces are used
• Making social spaces visible, inviting, and part of the workflow
• Protocols for shared spaces. For example: “Quiet hours in this zone from 10am–12pm.” Or “Headphones only for music or video.”

When people have the freedom to choose how and where they work within the office, engagement goes up, and resentment fades.

“Reduce the pace and give people that mental adjustment time that is needed genuinely, to take care of their lives before you change
[their lives].” - Sujay Saha

Takeaway: The Commute Must Pay Off

Employees aren’t just travelling to a building, they’re deciding if it’s worth it.

If they arrive only to spend the day on video calls or struggle to find a quiet spot, that choice feels like a burden, not a benefit. A workplace that also offers a professional, client-ready environment can make a real difference.

When employees know they have access to impressive spaces for both internal collaboration and hosting external meetings, the commute feels more worthwhile and productive.

But if the office is a place where real collaboration happens, where ideas spark and relationships grow, then the journey makes sense.

That’s what the best RTO strategies understand: people want to feel that their presence matters. That showing up adds value, not just for the company, but for them.

Door Tablet makes the commute worth it

The commute only makes sense when the destination works. Door Tablet bridges the gap between outdated office layouts and the modern need for autonomy with a seamless, professional booking ecosystem. Our tablets and software eliminate the friction of finding a space, allowing your team to focus on the collaboration and connection they can’t get at home. Transform your office into a high-performance environment that people actually want to show up for.

Book a demo with Door Tablet today.

Blog > April 2025 >

Is the Open Office Layout still relevant in 2026? Open

April 22, 2025 3 min read

Key Insights:

• Open offices reduce real collaboration and focus. Face-to-face interaction dropped by 70%, and employees lose up to 7 hours of productivity per week.


• Employees return when offices support how they work. Only 41% can concentrate in open plans, while over 53% of companies are moving to flexible, activity-based layouts.


• Mixed layouts outperform one-size-fits-all offices by supporting focus, collaboration, and client needs at the same time.

A decade ago, open-plan offices seemed like the future of work. Companies wanted to break down silos, boost collaboration, and reduce real estate costs. For a while, it worked—or at least, it looked like it did.

But by 2026, we will have enough data to call it: the open office layout isn't delivering on its promises.

It's hurting productivity, employee satisfaction, and even the motivation to come into the office.

Let’s start with productivity. A Harvard study found that when two major firms transitioned to an open layout, face-to-face interactions dropped by 70%, while digital communication spiked. The open space, instead of encouraging spontaneous collaboration, pushed employees to retreat into digital silos. This counterintuitive result is a red flag for anyone designing spaces meant to foster teamwork.

There is also a lack of privacy in these types of offices. Open-plan offices often lack designated quiet spaces for focused work. This can lead to employees feeling overstimulated and unable to concentrate on their work. A study by Oxford University found that employees in open-plan offices reported feeling a lack of control over their environment, which can further hinder focus and productivity.

It’s estimated that open environments lead to a loss of 86 minutes of productive work per day. That’s more than 7 hours a week, per employee.

The negative effects don’t stop at performance. According to Gensler, only 41% of workers in open offices feel they can concentrate effectively. And a third report needs to leave the office entirely to get meaningful work done. That can negatively influence job satisfaction and retention.

The chart  below indicates that individuals in open-plan setups experienced significantly more audio and visual distractions on-site, on average. This pushes them to choose to work from home.

Health and well-being are also at stake. Studies show that employees in open-plan offices take 62% more sick days, possibly due to easier transmission of illnesses and elevated stress levels.

The Link Between Office Design, Job Satisfaction, and Attendance

One of the clearest lessons from the pandemic-era shift to remote and hybrid work is this: employees are more willing to come into the office when it offers something they can't get at home.

That doesn't mean ping pong tables and free snacks. It means a space that supports their work and makes their day easier, not harder.

Activity-Based Working (ABW) is one model that meets this need. Unlike the open office, ABW provides a variety of work settings—quiet zones for deep work, breakout rooms for collaboration, and phone booths for private calls. Employees choose the space that fits their task. According to CBRE, over 53% of companies are adopting this model because it boosts both productivity and satisfaction.

ABW gives employees control, and that control increases their engagement. A study comparing office layouts found that satisfaction was highest in single offices, followed by ABW environments, with traditional open plans scoring lowest. It's not about eliminating collaboration; it's about offering choice.

Smart Layouts Meet Smart Tech

A shift away from open offices doesn’t mean designing in the dark. Sensors and analytics tools give facility managers real-time data on how space is used.

Motion sensors, for example, can show which meeting rooms are actually being used and which sit empty, helping teams manage bookings more efficiently. This data can be used to fine-tune layouts, move resources, and better allocate desks and rooms.

Testing and iterating with real data, organisations can develop a responsive, flexible office that encourages people to return, not because they have to, but because they want to.

Should We Ditch Open Layouts Entirely?

Open spaces still have a role to play, but that role needs to be clearly defined. In creative industries or innovation hubs, open layouts can support idea-rich environments. For short-term project teams, a shared, open workspace might foster camaraderie and quick communication. But these should be the exception, not the rule.

Most knowledge workers need both collaboration and concentration in their day-to-day work.

Open-plan layouts also fall short when it comes to hosting clients. They rarely offer the privacy, quiet, or professional atmosphere needed for external meetings. A well-designed office should support both internal collaboration and create an environment that’s impressive and functional for visitors. Spaces that can flex between focused work, team collaboration, and client-facing meetings are key to making the office a true asset, not just for employees, but for the business.

Read the article to explore why cubicles are making a comeback and what this shift says about how we work.

A mixed layout that includes open lounges, enclosed meeting pods, quiet rooms, and reservable desks allows people to flow between work modes without sacrificing comfort or focus.

In 2026, office design should no longer be about fitting the most desks into the least space. It should be about aligning physical environments with business goals, employee expectations, and data-backed insights. The open-plan layout was a bold experiment. Now, it’s time to take what we’ve learned and design spaces that truly work.

Final Thoughts: It’s Time to Rebalance the Office

We’re not saying open offices are evil. They had their place. But as the research and employee feedback roll in, it’s clear that open plans alone can’t support modern work. Offices need to be places of purpose: where collaboration is easy, deep work and privacy are protected, and coming in feels worthwhile.

The good news? We have the tools to make it happen. With data from sensors, feedback from employees, and flexible tech like desk booking systems, we can build better workplaces. And that starts with letting go of the idea that one big room fits all.