Open workspaces may improve communication, collaboration, and accessibility among employees. However, they also have downsides, like lack of privacy, distractions, and noise disruptions.
Besides, some work situations like call centers and accounting firms would work best with enhanced privacy. Luckily, a desk divider can help optimize office layouts.
Desk dividers are lightly structured barriers that break up and segment long rows of desks or workstations. Here are some everyday situations when considering if a desk divider could be helpful.
Dividing Different Departments and Teams
Open floor plans generally work best when the entire office has related roles and workflows. Your employees are more likely to benefit from frequent interactions and cross-collaborations. However, open spaces become challenging when very different teams and jobs share one space.
Sales, marketing, tech, and accounting teams often have opposing work styles and communication needs. Desk dividers help segment departments and teams that need more focus and autonomy into their zones while remaining loosely connected.
To Protect Highly Focused Work
Collaboration is valuable, but some types of work require intense, uninterrupted focus. Data analysis, computer programming, writing, graphic design, and accounting typically need segments of quiet focus daily.
An employee doing this type of heads-down work gains productivity benefits from using a desk divider, reducing noise and visual distractions around their station.
To Safeguard Sensitive Information
Some roles regularly handle sensitive documents and conversations regarding finances, legal matters, human resources, and client data. Lawyers, accountants, healthcare administrators, sales staff, and management require discreet environments when dealing with confidential materials.
Desk dividers provide additional privacy and peace of mind when reviewing documents or meeting with clients and coworkers.
Segmenting Guest, Client, and Lounge Areas
Even in more collaborative open offices, having an open guest reception area allows employees to remain productive at their desks. A desk divider helps cordon off breakrooms, lounges, and waiting areas for visitors and clients, separate from active work zones. This reduces disruptions.
Absorbing Noise in Loud Environments
Hard-walled spaces with multiple glass, concrete, and metal surfaces can become very noisy, filled with echoes and excessive reverberations. The noise gets amplified without carpeting, soft seating, and acoustic wall panels. Desk dividers made from sound-dampening materials help absorb noises and reduce painful reverberation.
Adding Visual Interest and Color
Do you want to add some color to the working space? In a plain office, dividers bring color, shape, and structure to the space. Options range from translucent glass to bold-colored acrylic to layered metal screens. Dividers add architectural detail and interest to otherwise undifferentiated rows of desks.
Aiding Social Distancing
Imagine an employee who keeps sneezing during work. Working behind a desk divider could help them and their colleagues feel more at ease.
During health situations requiring social distancing, desk dividers can further separate workstations. A mix of proper ventilation and sanitization dividers provides an extra safeguard when face-to-face proximity needs to be minimized.
Optimizing Workspaces with a Desk Divider
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to desk dividers in the workplace. Depending on the office layout, mix of roles, and type of work, some arrangements will benefit more than others. Get desk dividers today and let your staff work in sanitized, personalized, and privacy-enhanced spaces.
