1

KNOLL WORKPLACE RESEARCH

Creating Collaborative Spaces That WorkA Performance-Based Approach to Successful Planning

1

2

The Modern Office Emerged in the 1950s

3

The Late 1970s through 2000s Was the Era of the

Open Plan

4

Today a Major Shift Towards Collaboration and

Use of Technology Is Dramatically Changing

the Workplace

5

Historically, most Collaboration Occurred through

Large, Formal, Lengthy, Scheduled Meetings

Purpose of meeting space:

• Facilitate large group work

• Information exchange

• Group decision making

• Comfort over long meetings

Organizations became expert at

building formal conference rooms

6

Today, Organizations Struggle to Offer

Collaborative Spaces that Effectively Support the

Many Ways People Interact

7

What Is the “Secret Sauce” of Effective

Collaborative Spaces?

8

38 organizationssupporting over

300,000 employees,

gave us answers

9

Our sample contained 38 organizations in 9 industries

The Study Participants Reflect a Broad Mix of

Industries, Locations, and Population Size

10

A Wide Range of Portfolio Sizes Are Represented

11

Here Is What We Learned About

Collaboration Today

12

Organizations Are Emphasizing Collaboration to

Drive Innovation and Decision Making

13

Virtual collaboration Informal sharing

Collaboration Is Taking a Wider Variety of Forms,

Including Virtual and Casual Interactions

14

Project team work Creative interactions

The Amount of Project Team Work Is Increasing –

and Creative Activities Such as Brainstorming

15

Social component of work

There Is a Great Desire to Support the Social

Aspect of Work By Designing to Mimic Successful

Public Spaces

16

To Support these Different “Flavors” of

Collaboration, an Ever-expanding Variety of Group

Spaces Are being Offered

17

The Spaces Employees Are most Drawn to,

Support Social, Small Group Interactions

18

“We live in a BYOD [bring

your own device] world.

Employees bring their own

devices — computers,

tablets and smart phones

into the workplace and

expect the IT department

to make them work.”

CRE Director,

Pharmaceutical Company

Technology Is The Key Feature that Attracts

People to Collaborative Spaces

19

But the success of these

spaces has been limited

20

Despite Best Efforts, Collaborative Spaces Are

Falling Short of Expectations

21

There Is a Disconnect between the most Important

Collaborative Behaviors — Employees’ Abilities to

Engage in those Behaviors

22

A Lack of Adaptability of Both Furnishings and

Technology may Reduce Group Effectiveness

23

Thus, Furnishings Must Seamlessly Support the

Use of Technology

24

What about the Future of

Collaborative Space?

25

Huddle

The Most Rapidly Growing Types of Group Spaces

Will Foster a Mix of Creative and Process Work

Videoconference Project Team

Brainstorm

26

Brainstorming Are the Fastest Growing Category

– Offering a Casual Setting for Creating New Ideas

26

27

Future Planning will Emphasize Connection,

Sharing, Adaptability, and Nourishing the

Work Experience

28

Ultimately, the Collaborative Workplace can be the

Building Block for a More Cohesive Organization

Space should look and feel like a

place where work is conducted

Design should de-emphasize

sense of hierarchy

Provide access

to daylight,

views to outside

Use staircases to

promote “collisions”

Group spaces should have

connection to the rest of the facility

Provide more

choice through

range of individual

and group spaces

Nourish the informal

work spirit with snacks

and beverages

Offer spaces to support the

fastest growing types of work

Activity Space

Open Plan

Private Office

29

Thank You

30

Contact us directly to learn more about adopting Knoll

collaborative workspace solutions at your business.

(323) 271.1800