Ergonomic benefits in the office pod

How acoustic work pods provide two important movements - triggering cross-contamination and producing a more positive and inspiring office.

When people think of work pods they tend to think of 'privacy' and 'quiet'. Well-designed and crafted models certainly offer both of these things. But they also unlock an incredible but overlooked ergonomic advantage: freedom of movement. An office that is suitable for all kinds of pods or workspaces allows employees to move freely around the space on a daily basis and reap the countless benefits of movement.

From this perspective, work pods are a burden of movement - and can play a key role in a manager's strategy to create a more active office.

Work pods allow and facilitate two important types of movement

Whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly organising and re-organising our workplaces to improve performance. Space is a resource that must be managed, just like time, memory and energy. When we make good use of space, we can often reduce the time and memory requirements of tasks to a workable level. We can increase the reliability of execution and the amount of work we can handle simultaneously

When we talk about movement at work, we mean two kinds of movement that are equally important for health, comfort and productivity. Work pods can promote both types of exercise.

Movement #1: Exercise at your desk (or at work)

Switching positions by lifting one leg at a time on your footrest, alternating between standing and sitting positions, bouncing, rocking and swaying on your movable seat or enjoying the micro-movements of an anti-fatigue mat ...... These are all subtle exercises you can do when you are "sedentary" at your desk. Our aim is to create more opportunities for these types of movement in the design of the workstation itself.

Movement #2: "Mobility in the office"

"Workspaces that offer variety and encourage movement within the office have higher efficiency and experience scores." --Gensler's 2019 American Workplace Survey

Short strolls between pods, brisk walks around office buildings, stretching sessions and walking meetings ...... These actions all represent the second important movement an office space should promote: mobility within the office.

The key here is to offer a variety of working environments in the first place, giving employees a choice. Because each work environment (or pod, in our case) provides an environment suited to a unique task, the user is empowered to match the task to the pod and to move around the pod on a daily basis - maintaining overall mobility. From this perspective, work pods not only encourage but catalyse employees to remain mobile. The beauty of in-office mobility is that movement welcomes more movement. After all, objects in motion tend to stay in motion. As a result, your team will become more and more active every day as time goes on.