How “isolation” pods make the office more social, not less

Key takeaways: 4 ways “isolation” pods make the office more social, not less

1. Meeting pods contain noise — so inside, teams can get rowdy. Better collaboration results.

2. Small acoustic pods allow peers to have important conversations in private. More constructive discussions follow. And work relationships are improved because of them.

3. Pods and booths function as social alcoves. They’re quiet spaces to hang out and form genuine relationships.

4. By making the office more functional, pods help draw employees back to it. As a result, more employees are together more frequently and the team naturally socializes.

Meeting pods contain noise — so inside, teams can get rowdy. Better collaboration results.

What is collaboration really? It’s the creativity of multiple people at play. It’s a wild thing. A force to be reckoned with. A wave to be surfed, not contained. Contain it, and you limit its power.

Unfortunately, the open floor can stifle creativity.

Timid employees might feel awkward sharing ideas out in public beside listening peers. Sensory-sensitive employees might be too distracted by chit-chat and visitors to concentrate deeply enough for creativity to percolate.

Self-consciousness is a creativity killer, too.

The lightbulb moment is exciting! Followed often by a nearly manic upchuck of bright ideas. You don’t want to be too shy to share or so worried about bothering coworkers that you rein in enthusiasm when inspiration strikes.

Pods are a solution for open offices. They make excellent collaboration spaces.

They’re acoustic, so you can get boisterous inside without disturbing colleagues on the floor. They’re like mini rooms, shutting out all agitating office noise and commotion. Inside a meeting pod like hushMeet, you enjoy a serene, clutter-free space. Attention is devoted to collaboration alone. Better collaboration results.

Read more about the hybrid, agile office’s many duties beyond supporting collaboration: What is the office’s role in a hybrid work world?

Small acoustic pods allow teammates to have tough, important conversations in private.

More constructive discussions follow. And work relationships are improved because of them.

Tough conversations form more functional work relationships. By addressing conflicts, managers give their employees psychological safety at work — the assurance that they’ll be rewarded, not punished, for bringing up concerns. Private pods are a private space where employees can feel more comfortable getting real about sensitive matters

– offers Mateusz Barczyk, Senior Brand Manager, Hushoffice.

Difficult conversations can be the most fruitful.

They can be a bit daunting. Involving topics that are hard to talk about, like clashing opinions or touchy interpersonal situations. But more so, they’re an opportunity to grow. An honest heart-to-heart can help teammates understand one another and move forward more aligned.

Pods and booths function as social alcoves.

Work relationships are the #1 driver of employee engagement. In fact, employees with a best friend in the office are 40% more likely to be praised for the caliber of their work.

In other words, work relationships matter.

And employees need social spaces in the office where they can work, rest, and simply be together.Office pods are cozy spaces to hang out and form genuine relationships.

A social, well-bonded team is a group of people that are comfortable being themselves with one another. They collaborate more effortlessly. They have an energizing sense of team. They’re more loyal to each other and their employer

– adds Mateusz Barczyk, Senior Brand Manager, Hushoffice.

Teams need social spaces. Where permanent infrastructure is a no-go, mobile pods are a flexible workaround. They’re like portable work rooms for agile teams that want to roll with change. Their sound-trapping acoustics do just that: trap sound, ensuring social activities aren’t permeating the space but contained in the pod.

By making the office more functional, pods help draw employees back to it.

As a result, more employees are together more frequently, and the team naturally socializes.

Spontaneous interactions happen only when the team is together.

Make the office a watering hole, make it the much-needed social space balancing out remote work. When we’re together, bouncing ideas off one another, our thinking stays flexible. A few keen retrofits and the office can facilitate all the “human” aspects of work that make it meaningful.

Isolation when you need to isolate. Socialization when you need to socialize.

Pods aren’t about isolating employees from one another. They’re about giving people more control over how they work. Some need to hole up in a work pod for half an hour to think through solutions to their prospect’s hang-ups. Others need to get with their team because they come up with stronger solutions collaboratively. We all work differently. Pods cater to these differences by giving employees options

– offers Mateusz Barczyk, Senior Brand Manager, Hushoffice.

Separate but not disconnected.

Though Hushoffice pods are enclosed and private, they maintain a healthy feeling of team. Their two glass panels to the right and left engender a felt sense of connection to colleagues outside the pod while you’re inside. You’re temporarily separate, but never feel disconnected.

Summary: 4 ways “isolation” pods make the office more social, not less

1. Meeting pods contain noise — so inside, teams can get rowdy. Better collaboration results.

2. Small acoustic pods allow peers to have important conversations in private. More constructive discussions follow. And work relationships are improved because of them.

3. Pods and booths function as social alcoves. They’re quiet spaces to hang out and form genuine relationships.

4. By making the office more functional, pods help draw employees back to it. As a result, more employees are together more frequently and the team naturally socializes.

Office pods – FAQs

What are pods in the workplace?

Pods are like prefab, portable work and meeting rooms. They’re designed for maximum flexibility — most are relocatable by push or pallet jack, making quick office layout adjustments doable. They’re long-term assets to teams that need to maintain office functionality in the face of change. Say, teams that need the dependable call space of hushPhone or the dependable meeting space of hushMeet day in, day out.

Are office pods soundproof?

All office pods in the Hushoffice collection are engineered to the class B standard per ISO 23351-1:2020, giving users guaranteed speech privacy. How quiet are they? Comfortably quiet. They feel “just right.” When you’re inside a pod, office noise outside is heard as a pleasant, distant murmur. Read more about the actual experience of an office pod.

How do I make my open space office more social?

Somewhat counterintuitively, one way to make your open floor more social is to invest in private office pods. Meeting pods like hushMeet bolster collaboration by containing noise, allowing teams to get rowdy when they get together and enjoy more dynamic collaboration. Small pods like hushMeet.S can promote more genuine work relationships by giving peers the private space needed for important conversations. Pods and booths can also function as social alcoves — as acoustic spaces to hang out without disrupting others. By making the office more functional with a few essential pods, you lure employees back to the workplace. As a result, more people are together more often, socializing on the regular.