The Hackable Workplace

Hackability, in a workplace rather than computer context, refers to customisability, agility and flexibility. The ability to easily and quickly adapt a space to suit a new purpose or need at low cost with minimal intervention. More interested now?

As we navigate through the hybrid working experiment, creating fixed amenities for workers where there is still some ambiguity around how they will be used is potentially a recipe for failure. Opinions and preferences are in flux and while doing nothing is not an option neither is doing the wrong thing.

Making your space hackable involves incorporating creative methods to accommodate the ever-evolving needs of your employees. After all, the need for flexibility is ultimately human-driven, and people are demanding more control over their space than ever before.

Flexible adaption empowers workers to create personalised working experiences that suit their tasks and personality preferences. Research has shown that where workers are able to directly influence their surroundings, they are not only happier and more motivated but 32% more productive *.

So how does a hackable office manifest itself? It is not a completely anarchic flexible space, rather flexible elements within a structured framework. A balance of fixed amenities and building services and highly flexible furniture-based settings incorporating sharing and collaboration technology. Multi-functionality enables settings to be used for a variety of tasks to suit who is in the office on a particular day and maximises asset usage.

Empowering employees with the ability to make changes to their workplace improves satisfaction and drives workers to use the office for preference. As workplace floorplates contract and sharing becomes the norm then the ability to quickly reconfigure settings to optimally support worker activities will be crucial to keep the office compatible with changing requirements.