The workbench is an enduring workplace tradition, for many good reasons. It’s simple, efficient, straightforward and adaptable.
From the crude wood tables used for centuries by artisans and craftspeople to today’s sleek and technology-infused versions for knowledge workers, benching is a concept that’s continuing to evolve to meet a wide variety of workplace needs.
In Europe, bench applications have become the norm during recent years. Office designers there have actively embraced benches for their clean aesthetic and the efficiency appeal of a modular product that’s easily configured — and reconfigured.
In North America, the trend to bench has been catching on fast because it’s a hard-working solution that addresses converging business realities, especially: 1) today’s workplace culture that prefers collaboration and networking to closed-off cubicles; and 2) the pressing need to curb real estate costs and adapt spaces quickly to changing business conditions and needs. According to a study completed in 2009, more than 70% of corporate real estate executives have implemented mobile work strategies to boost space efficiency, 71% provide hoteling workspaces, and 75% support working from home.1 Controlling costs was the main reason cited for these strategies, but improving worker productivity and efficiency was a hard-pressing second-place driver.
In addition, several other workplace trends are contributing to the fast-growing appeal of benching applications. One is the demand for sustainable buildings that do more with less and provide healthy work environments that allow natural light to permeate deep into the space. (High-performance, sustainable buildings have been proven to boost employee productivity by 10-20%.2) Another bench-pressing trend is the fast-growing number of mobile workers who want to “see and be seen” during the times they come into the office, thereby quickly connecting with co-workers as well as technology.
Clearly work is changing on many fronts, and it’s virtually impossible to meet new worker needs in existing workplaces. Rethinking the workplace is a proven fast track to creating more productive worker behaviors.
No wonder the benching movement is gaining floor space fast: it dovetails perfectly with key workplace trends going on today. Benching solutions can already be found in many types of organizations, and industry observers have declared that this will be the era of the bench in the workplace as cubicles assume their rightful place in history.
Steelcase began conducting primary and secondary research on benching in 2008, including in-depth case studies with ten clients, six in the U.S. and four in Europe. Adopting methodologies from anthropology and other social sciences, Steelcase’s Applied Research Consultants and WorkSpace Futures teams, in collaboration with architects, designers and organizations worldwide, have discovered new insights about benching products and applications. By carefully observing workers in a broad variety of companies, Steelcase researchers identified four very different types of bench users who have distinct needs that mandate differing product applications. Moreover, in addition to work processes, the culture and brand identity of an organization are potent ingredients in successful benching solutions.
A key takeaway of Steelcase’s research was this: the “one size fits all” approach to benching that’s been typical in the U.S. significantly compromises worker efficiency and satisfaction, thereby potentially deflating bench products’ rising-star status about as quickly as the economy recovers.
Read this original blog post on Reinventing the WorkBench for the Office here
