Interactive Office Spaces: 8 Tips to Improve Workplace Interaction

Interactive office spaces that promote greater interactivity and collaboration among team members have countless benefits. While there is a time for working individually, greater interaction between coworkers should always be encouraged.

Interaction should not be limited to the meeting room; in fact, many of the most valuable interactions take place outside of meetings.

Greater interaction can improve productivity, boost morale, and increase creativity among employees. It can even help to increase employee retention by creating a more positive working environment, building a stronger culture, and simply making the office a more enjoyable place to be.

So how should you go about creating a more interactive office space for your organization? Here are 8 ideas to get you started.

1. Choose an Open-Plan Office

If you want to encourage interaction, don’t hide everyone away in their own private offices. This naturally reduces the opportunities for spontaneous meetings because employees have a greater incentive to stay in their comfortable offices.

An open-plan design remedies this.

The basic idea behind interactive office design is to encourage more natural and spontaneous meetings between employees. With an open-plan office, employees are more likely to get up and talk with colleagues if they have a quick question, rather than having to make the effort to leave their office.

When you redesign your office space using an interactive office floor plan like this, put a focus on removing barriers. For example, by keeping partitions between desks low, or having none at all, you’ll make it easier for people to communicate across their workspaces.

You could even use glass walls for meeting rooms to improve visual connectivity and create a greater sense of connection between all members of the team.

2. Integrate Better Technology

Improving the technology in your workplace is one of the most important factors if you want to increase interactivity and encourage collaborative work.

For example, high-quality video conferencing tools are essential for encouraging greater interaction between people on-site and those working remotely. Incorporating the latest technology will ensure everyone can communicate effortlessly from anywhere, helping to break down communication barriers.

Using the latest technology helps you avoid the frustrations of bad audio or poor image quality, which will enhance meetings rather than hinder them.

Ensure you position conferencing technology carefully so that everyone is visible on camera. This might involve placing multiple screens around the room or setting it up in such a way that people can get up and move around without disrupting interaction.

3. Encourage Casual Interactions

Much of the focus on making your office more interactive will be on encouraging casual interactions, where ideas are shared and impromptu brainstorming sessions can take place.

We’ve already touched on this with the benefits of an open-plan office, but there are lots of tricks you can implement to increase these essential casual interactions with a more interactive office layout.

For example, you can position dedicated common areas, like the staff kitchen or coffee stations, in more central locations. That way, people from all over the office are more likely to naturally cross paths on a regular basis.

You could even set up a games room, a relaxing lounge area, or a fitness center to encourage employees to meet up away from their desks.

4. Create Impromptu Brainstorming Hubs

If you want your employees to not only have casual interactions but to brainstorm ideas, make it easy for them to do so.

For example, you could put digital whiteboards up in unexpected places like along the hallways. Then, when people bump into each other, they can have a quick brainstorming session or explain a concept using the whiteboards.

Or you could turn the corner of the room into a hub with a whiteboard and some comfy seating. Instead of going to the meeting room, employees can quickly sit down and start throwing ideas around.

5. Incorporate Modular Furniture

Modular furniture allows employees to move the furniture around however they wish, and this has some important benefits.

In a meeting room, participants can quickly arrange the furniture in a way that works for them for that specific meeting. Rather than sticking to a rigid setup around a table, they may prefer a small group meeting with a few chairs positioned in a circle.

When you incorporate mobile screens, or desks and chairs with wheels, you provide employees with more flexibility to arrange the furniture how they wish. They can create a more private space to make a quick call or do some solo work, or push the furniture together to arrange an impromptu meeting outside of the meeting room.

Encourage employees to change their environment as they see fit, giving them the freedom they need. If you need some inspiration, why not check out our meeting room layouts for effective team collaboration?

6. Create Small Meeting Areas

Little alcoves are perfect for small and private meetings. Rather than having to book out the meeting room and take up an entire office, employees can take advantage of small, private spaces where they can hold quicker, less intense meetings.

These alcoves can be very simple, consisting of a few chairs or couches with high backs that create a greater sense of seclusion.

Use of these areas does not need to be restricted to meetings. You could set them up as touchdown areas where employees can relax and take a break, and they will naturally interact with each other, including people from different departments.

7. Improve the Office Atmosphere

A better office environment can help to improve creativity, well-being, and staff morale. Creating a more relaxed environment filled with positive energy can help to make people feel happier and more comfortable in the office, so they are more likely to communicate and interact with other people.

There are many ways to use interactive office decor to create a better working environment. People who work from home naturally create environments that they are comfortable in to inspire greater productivity, and the same should be true in larger offices.

This can include creating a more inviting atmosphere by introducing plenty of natural light, or at least bright bulbs that mimic daylight. Lighting helps to boost alertness and increase morale, while a darker environment may have the opposite effect.

Adding more greenery is also effective. Positioning plants around the office can help improve mood and energy, and they can make the office look more inviting and create a feeling of space.

8. Focus on Comfort

Finally, make sure any changes you make focus on increasing comfort. Comfortable seating like couches in casual meeting rooms can help to make them more inviting and inspiring, so people are naturally encouraged to use them. Everything plays a role, not just the furniture but also the lighting and temperature.

At the same time, make sure everyone knows that interaction is encouraged. They should be aware that they are free to get up and walk around when they want to, creating a more relaxed atmosphere where interactions can take place freely.

Create a More Interactive Office Space

Redesigning your entire office can be a large project, but you can make small updates that make a big difference.

You could start by changing the layout and creating some brainstorming hubs, or you could invest in better equipment to improve your meetings such as our new G-series all-in-one meeting displays.

Perhaps start by gathering feedback from your employees. Ask them what they want to see in an interactive office space, which can help you prioritize which changes to make first.

The benefits of even small enhancements can be profound, leading to more interaction, a better work environment, more creativity, and happier employees.