Though offices with unassigned seating certainly have their perks, sometimes they can feel like they’re doing more harm than good. Research proves that people are creatures of habit: 71 percent of employees in unassigned, activity-based workplaces still say that they perform most their activities at a single desk. 1
Company culture, management practices, and resource scarcity can lead to behaviors that keep people from making the most of an unassigned office—and from doing their best work. Here are three behaviors that indicate your people are struggling, along with ideas for helping people and your organization succeed.

How Do You Ensure People Have the Right Spaces and Tools?
- Encourage behaviors and a culture that reflect a “work anywhere” mentality.
- Provide enough technology and tools (ahem, staplers) throughout the office.
- Give people the freedom to choose from a variety of spaces, including places where people can work alone or together.
How Do You Encourage Cross-Pollination?
- Support and embrace teams that want and need to work together.
- Establish policies that inspire people to mix it up and sit by different people on different teams.
- If people are spreading out, make sure your office is designed so that they can easily find their teammates when something comes up.


How Do You Prompt Movement?
- Ensure people don’t feel like they’re being judged for “slacking” if they’re working in a comfortable setting, like a couch.
- Managers should encourage people to move throughout the day, explain what spaces are available, and how to use them.
- Make it easy for people to find one another, and when they do, make sure they have plenty of open desks to choose from.
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