Utiliser des cabines de bureau au lieu de construire de nouvelles salles de réunion

Une étude récente a révélé que les cabines de bureau sont plus rentables que la construction de nouvelles salles de réunion. Cela a des implications significatives pour le grand nombre d'espaces de bureau mal préparés aux États-Unis, et pourrait permettre à l'industrie d'économiser plus de 30 milliards de dollars d'ici 2030.

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En collaboration avec la société de services immobiliers commerciaux CBRE Finland, Framery a comparé les coûts totaux des cabines insonorisées pour une, quatre et six personnes avec ceux des salles de réunion de taille équivalente en Europe, en Amérique du Nord et en Asie. Et pour la deuxième fois, le rapport offre des perspectives intéressantes qui fournissent aux locataires et aux gestionnaires de bureaux des outils essentiels pour prendre des décisions éclairées concernant la conception et l'aménagement de leur espace. Ces informations peuvent aider à mieux adapter les environnements de travail aux besoins modernes et à optimiser les ressources disponibles.

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À l'échelle mondiale, les bureaux prennent conscience qu'ils ne répondent pas adéquatement aux besoins d'une main-d'œuvre moderne. Alors que les réunions se réduisent en taille et que 90% d'entre elles incluent au moins un participant virtuel, il est crucial d'avoir des espaces calmes pour les appels et les petites réunions. Cependant, les salles de réunion bien équipées sont en nombre limité, notamment dans les bureaux à aire ouverte qui ont gagné en popularité avant la pandémie. Les entreprises doivent donc décider entre plus de cloisons ou des cabines.

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À travers le monde, les bureaux s'efforcent de répondre à la demande croissante d'espaces privés, car les entreprises doivent rivaliser avec les avantages et commodités offerts par le télétravail. Selon Jussi Niemistö de CBRE, les occupants de bureaux investissent de plus en plus dans des espaces flexibles et modulables pour satisfaire cette demande de flexibilité et inciter leur personnel à revenir au bureau après les années de télétravail liées à la pandémie. Cette évolution témoigne d'un changement significatif dans la manière dont les environnements de travail sont conçus, mettant l'accent sur le confort et l'adaptabilité.

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And updating office spaces is a costly endeavor. According to the Cushman & Wakefield study, over 41% of the office field needs to be refurbished in the US alone. That’s 2.6 billion square feet of vacant and inadequate office space that “hasn’t kept pace with demands to support hybrid working and efficiency priorities.”

The cost of building new meeting rooms in that amount of space would surpass $85 Billion.

The same Cushman & Wakefield study also sets the new average number of square feet per office employee 165 sf/person, down from 190 sf/person pre-pandemic. This means you would have 15,700,000 employees using that space. Already pre-pandemic, typical recommended numbers of meeting rooms for open-plan offices were 1 phone room for every 15 employees, one small meeting room for every 20 employees, and one mid-sized meeting room for every 20 employees.

Using calculations based on the 2023 CBRE cost study, the cost of building meeting rooms in the insufficient US office spaces would be 85.8 billion dollars. Pods provide an opportunity to reduce that cost significantly – the cost of constructed meeting rooms is 55 % higher on average than that of Framery pods.  The same amount of private space can be supplied by Framery for roughly 55.5 billion dollars – saving real estate owners and occupiers 30.3 billion dollars throughout the end of the decade.

Office pods are a modular, cost-effective, and more sustainable solution for companies than constructing new meeting rooms. And these are just some of the many benefits office pods can provide, according to Framery CEO Samu Hällfors. “As a culture, we are shifting to a more flexible way of working. That is where office pods come in,” says Hällfors. “Pods are compact and make better use of existing space. They allow for greater flexibility in rearranging and reconfiguring offices. And they can be moved to a new location when needed. That all greatly reduces the lifetime costs associated with running an office, especially in larger cities with high-priced real estate.”

But soundproof pods also benefit the employees – as well as the employer. And employees are beginning to expect this type of office perk from their employer. “One of the most in-demand building offerings is phone booths and private suites, where workers can take phone calls or remote meetings alone or in small groups,” states CBRE’s Niemistö.

“Today’s office requirements and tenant needs frequently show an increase in enclosed private space and more modular space structures. This means focus workspaces for better concentration, but also rooms or phone booths, such as Framery’s, for private calls or smaller group meetings that help in creating an office environment that is most effective for the workforce.”

Framery invented, manufactured, and sold the world’s first office pod, and its Framery O model is now the world’s best-selling pod. The majority of Forbes top 100 companies use Framery pods, including Microsoft, L’Oreal, and Tesla. That adoption rate will only intensify in the next year or two, says Hällfors. “In 2013, the global market for pods was roughly 1,000 units. Now it is tens of thousands of pods. We’ve seen over 200 manufacturers pop up globally since we created the market in 2010.”

CBRE’s global research report indicates that access to focus space like pods is now the most desired office perk, ranking higher in employee preferences than a private office. “The increasing demand for these office pods isn’t coming so much from management as it is from employees themselves”, says Hällfors. “Reimagining the workplace in these innovative, cost-effective ways is what is going to get employees excited to return to the office.”