Activity-based working is the idea that an office should offer different settings for different kinds of work – collaboration, focused individual work, calls, meetings, informal conversation – and let people move between them. It replaced the one-desk-per-person model in many organisations because it uses space better and suits hybrid schedules. Its weakness is that most offices were not built with enough of the quiet settings. Pods fill that gap, and this article looks at how they fit into a focus-friendly workspace.
The settings an office needs
- Open collaboration – desks, benches and breakout areas where conversation is expected.
- Focus – quiet spaces for concentrated work, from library-style zones to enclosed one-person rooms.
- Calls and video – private booths sized for one person and a laptop.
- Small meetings – two- to four-person spaces for one-to-ones, interviews and small video calls.
- Larger meetings – rooms for six or more, equipped for video.
- Social – kitchens, cafes and lounges.
A typical fit-out over-provides the first and last of these and under-provides the middle four. Pods address the middle four directly.
Pods as focus rooms
A single-person pod with a seat, a work surface and a monitor arm is a focus room. Staff book it for an hour or two to write, analyse or design without interruption. Unlike a library zone, it has a door, so the norm of silence does not depend on everyone else’s behaviour. Unlike a built room, it can be added to a floor that has no spare walls.
Pods as call spaces
The phone booth is the most used pod in any office. It removes the calls from the floor and gives the caller a professional backdrop for video. Bookable or not is a policy decision: most organisations leave booths on a first-come basis and book the larger pods.
Pods as meeting spaces
Four- and six-person pods with a display and a video bar are meeting rooms. They are quicker to deploy than built rooms, and they can be moved when a team grows or a floor is re-planned. For organisations with room-booking systems such as Joan, a pod is scheduled like any room, with a booking display on the door.
Design considerations
Acoustics in both directions. The pod must keep the office out and keep the conversation in. Look for measured sound reduction figures.
Comfort. Ventilation rate, lighting quality and seating determine whether a pod is used for two hours or avoided after twenty minutes.
Technology. Power and USB-C at the work surface, a monitor mount in focus pods, and a display and video bar in meeting pods. Network can be Wi-Fi in booths and wired in meeting pods.
Location. Focus pods away from the social zone; call booths near the teams that call; meeting pods where they act as a buffer between loud and quiet areas.
Etiquette. A short set of rules – time limits on booths, no belongings left in pods, food out – keeps them available.
Measuring whether it works
Occupancy sensors in pods and booking data from a system such as Joan tell you which settings are used and when. If booths are always full, add booths. If a large pod sits empty, it may be in the wrong place or the wrong size. This feedback loop is what activity-based working is supposed to provide, and pods make it easy to act on because moving a pod is a morning’s work.
Hush Pod and Zen
Zen Interactive Technologies distributes Hush Pod, Joan room-booking devices and the video hardware from Nearity and Yealink that turns a pod into a meeting room, all for the UAE and GCC. We can help plan the mix of settings for a floor and supply everything from Dubai. See the Hush Pod page and the Joan page.