How it works
An activity-based office offers a range of settings under one roof: individual workspaces and quiet rooms for focus, open lounges and project rooms for collaboration, cafe areas for informal meetings, and private rooms and booths for calls. Employees choose the setting that suits each task and move during the day.
The idea is often traced to the American architect Robert Luchetti in the 1980s, and the Dutch insurer Interpolis is widely cited for one of the first activity-based offices, in the 1990s. Interpolis dropped assigned desks and let employees choose when, where and for how long they worked.
Furniture is only half the change. Activity-based working depends on cues that tell people what each setting is for, shared etiquette such as silence in quiet zones, and managers who trust people to work where they choose. Usage data by setting shows which areas are overused or ignored.
How to measure it
- Occupancy by setting type, not only desks.
- Whether settings are used for their purpose, for example quiet rooms used for calls.
- Employee feedback on finding the right setting when they need it.
Examples
- An employee starts the day at a shared desk, joins a project room for a workshop, takes a call in a booth and finishes in a quiet room.
- A team turns a block of desks into a lounge and two project rooms after booking data shows its collaboration space is always full.
Benchmarks
Interpolis, the first organization to adopt activity-based working, reduced its office space from two buildings to one.
Kadence guide: Flexible office models
Common mistakes
- Removing desks without adding enough of the settings people need, especially quiet space.
- Letting people camp in one setting all day, which recreates assigned desks.
- Skipping signage and etiquette, so quiet rooms fill with calls.
- Treating activity-based working as a furniture project rather than a change in how managers lead.
How Kadence helps
Kadence books desks, meeting rooms, pods, lockers and private offices from one interactive floor plan, with booking rules set per space type. Heatmaps and occupancy reports in Workplace Insights show which settings people use, and floor plan search helps people find a colleague, desk or room.
Space management · Workplace analytics · Guide: flexible office models
Frequently asked questions
What are examples of activity-based working?
Typical settings include shared desks, focus rooms, open lounges, project rooms with video and whiteboards, cafe areas with tall tables and private phone booths. An employee might move between three or four of these in a day, depending on the work.
What is the difference between activity-based working and hot desking?
Hot desking shares identical desks first come, first served. Activity-based working goes further: it replaces the single desk with a range of settings for different tasks and expects people to move between them.
What are the disadvantages of activity-based working?
Common problems are too few quiet spaces, time lost looking for the right setting, people claiming one spot all day and difficulty finding colleagues. Clear rules, booking for high-demand settings and visible team locations reduce them.
Where did activity-based working start?
The concept is often traced to the American architect Robert Luchetti. The Dutch insurer Interpolis is widely cited for one of the first activity-based offices, where it dropped assigned desks under the motto 'As long as the work gets done.'
Related terms
- Hot desking and hoteling Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in.
- Workspace types The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work.
- Neighborhood A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together.
- Open-plan office An office layout with few internal walls, where most people work at desks in shared open areas rather than private offices or cubicles.
Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed