User experiences with flexible offices

Different office types provide the preconditions for distinct user experiences. However, research evidence on how users appraise flexible offices such as activity-based or combi offices is not as abundant as in the case of the more traditional open-plan and cell offices. Furthermore, the available literature shows discrepant results between flexible offices. The main difference between traditional and flexible offices is that the design of the latter is intended for users to switch between different shared spaces and workstations oriented to support different activities, needs and preferences. This office design may offer new opportunities and challenges for users as their experiences at work may be influenced by design qualities (or constellations of them) that are not present in traditional offices. I study the experiences of users with flexible offices because I want to understand the influences that the design qualities of office artefacts and spaces have on such experiences, as well as their design implications. In addition, I utilise the acquired knowledge to explore design opportunities for positive user experiences with flexible offices. In this regard, the research angle adopted builds on a UX theoretical background and a practical approach with multiple user studies in real office environments. The findings show that user experiences with flexible offices are influenced by interrelated design qualities of the spaces and artefacts in use, rather than isolated qualities. These (tangible and intangible) qualities define the nature of an artefact, a space, or constellations of them that users experience, for instance the qualities of an office chair vs. a meeting room. Experiences are subjective, but relate to both individual and collective experiences, for example using an ergonomic workstation vs. sharing such workstations. The findings also suggest that designing for user experiences with flexible offices is a highly complex endeavour, and that emphasis should be placed on designing for the experiences of pleasure, community, autonomy, purpose, and control over the environment. Utilising this knowledge to develop and test research prototypes allowed for a richer understanding of the experiential process and its relation to more systemic aspects such as the context of use or the temporality of experiences. Derived from these research activities and their findings, I present in this thesis the tentative SEEX (Stimuli-Evaluation-EXperiential outcome) model of how user experiences take place. This thesis contributes knowledge on theoretical and practical levels for academics and practitioners to continue studying office user experiences from a UX perspective, support informed decisions in the planning, operation, and evaluation of offices, and explore design opportunities for office environments

Office Landscapes for Well-being. Interrelations between employee, activities, spatial attributes and context.

The study of employee well-being in relation to office landscapes has gained greater interest in the recent years, although research on the construct of well-being has been increasingly developing in the field of Positive Psychology since the 1960s. However, the impact of office landscapes on employee well-being has often been addressed from perspectives such as health, satisfaction, happiness, comfort, etc. This has turned well-being into a popular and fuzzy term that numerous office studies use with diverse results, but fewer address it in detail. Furthermore, the prolific research in Positive Psychology lacks consensus on what characterises the construct of well-being and a unified criterion for its operational definition.In this thesis, a hybrid approach to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being theories has been chosen to study in depth the interrelations between employee well-being and office landscapes. Besides, these interrelations emerge from the use that employees make of their office landscapes to carry out their daily activities. Thus, employee well-being is studied in the context of office landscape use. For this venture, Activity Theory has been chosen as the complementary framework that enables an explanation of the role of office landscapes in mediating employees’ activities and subsequent influences on well-being.The research presented here comprises two literature reviews and an in-depth case study in which a mixed method research approach with emphasis on qualitative data was adopted. The findings show that spatial attributes of the office landscape influenced employee hedonic and eudaimonic well-being by enabling or hindering uses of the landscape. Likewise, the use, disuse or misuse of spaces was influenced by employee perceptions on what was pleasurable and supportive, or not, for carrying out their daily activities. In this sense, the experiences of use and well-being overlap and are central to explaining the results, but contextual aspects such as former employee experiences at different offices, relocation processes, social environment, and employees’ activity patterns also influenced employees’ insights.As a result of integrating well-being theories and the principles of Activity Theory in my research, a tentative framework is proposed for the study of employee well-being in relation to office landscapes. In addition, the weight of employee environmental mastery in the overall experience of well-being suggests that further research exploring design opportunities to improve the mastery over office landscapes has a great potential to enhance employee well-being at work

Contextual user research methods for eliciting user experience insights in workplace studies

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute with experiences and reflections on user research methods that we have tested in our studies of users\u27 experiences in office environments. Theory: Previous workplace studies with qualitative data approaches mainly rely on traditional methods such as interviews and observations. Based on user-centered design research, we outline methods that can be used to facilitate understanding the interrelations between users and their surrounding environment. Design: Three methods and their variations were applied in different case studies to facilitate understanding of user experiences in office environments: (i) spatial walkthroughs, (ii) card sorting, and (iii) experience curve mapping. Findings: Spatial walkthroughs were more immersive and provided most insights on the actual context with respect to spatial design qualities. The card sorting enabled exploring user experiences with respect to predetermined aspects. The experience curve mapping enabled understanding the temporal aspects of the user experience. The latter two methods were less immersive and less disruptive in the organisational context than the spatial walkthroughs. The flexibility of these methods allows for tailoring the application depending on the purpose of the workplace studies. We recommend using a combination of these methods to capture a more holistic understanding of user experiences and improving the workspace design to better fit the users. Originality: The outlined methods required user involvement and participation and provided insights for making evidence-based recommendations for designing or redesigning office environments that fit users\u27 needs and preferences

Activity Theory. A framework for understanding the interrelations between users and workplace design.

Activity theory (AT) is a conceptual framework for the study of human activity. From this theoretical perspective, an activity system is the primary unit of analysis and is broken into three analytical components: (i) the subject - the person, group or organisation being studied, (ii) the mediating tools by which the activity is carried out, and (iii) the object that the provides the meaning and purpose for which subjects engage in activities. As the concept of tool mediation is central to the theory, its application in workplace studies has enabled an understanding of the interaction between employees as users, their activities and workplaces as mediating tools. AT has been applied in workplace studies to examine the implications of relocating to flexible offices, offering a holistic and contextual method of discovery that has informed use(r)-centred workplace design. Qualitative and interpretative research is recommended for examining the components of activities and their interdependencies. To this end, contextual inquiries are recommended, with a triangulation of methods such as interviews, observations and walkthroughs to ensure a comprehensive understanding of activity systems. The chapter concludes with a step-by-step guide for conducting workplace studies, using AT as an analytical framework

A healthy office and healthy employees: a longitudinal case study with a salutogenic perspective in the context of the physical office environment

This two-wave study (time lag of six months and two years post-relocation) investigated ways in which employees’ perceptions of the office environment relate to their perceived health in the long term, drawing on the salutogenic approach to health and the sense of coherence theory (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness). A mixed-method approach was adopted. The data collection involved semi-structured interviews with employees, plus structured observations. The findings indicate that employees found the office environment less comprehensible and meaningful in Wave 2, while (somewhat) equally manageable. Comprehensibility was influenced by a lack of clear behavioural rules; manageability was influenced by a lack of control over the environment; and meaningfulness was influenced by social environment and lack of personalization. The contextual aspects of the office, including tasks, flexible working culture and the change processes were critical to these findings. This study has demonstrated that negative influences caused by poor design choices do not resolve themselves over time. When there is limited support for one component of sense of coherence, the initial observed benefits wear off and negative influences may spill over into other components. Therefore, office design should be approached with balanced attention to comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness

Discrepancies between intended and actual use in Activity-based Flexible Offices - A literature review

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature addressing A-FOs, with a focus on use patterns and work conditions. The findings show that A-FOs are not always used as intended: territorial behaviours and nesting habits were recurrent in several studies. In this regard, understanding employees’ job characteristics is essential for optimal configuration of A-FOs, e.g. the type, attributes and number of workspaces. Additionally, employees\ub4 needs, spatial factors and implementation processes require special attention in order to provide supportive office environments

Methods for eliciting user experience insights in workplace studies: spatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting

PurposeDrawing on a user-centred design perspective, the purpose of this paper is to (i) provide an overview of three contextual user research methods, namely, spatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting, (ii) exemplify their applications in different case studies and (iii) compare the methods according to their contributions for the study of users’ workplace experiences. Previous workplace studies with qualitative approaches mainly rely on methods such as interviews and observations. Although these methods provide rich data, the understanding of office users, their use situations and finding more fitting workplace designs can benefit from deeper user experience insights.Design/methodology/approachThree methods and their variants were tested in studies of user experience in flexible offices: spatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting. The methods were tested during workshops and interviews in four case studies with a total of 114 participants.FindingsSpatial walkthroughs were more immersive and provided the most insights on the actual context with respect to spatial design qualities, while experience curve mapping enabled understanding the temporal aspects of the user experience and card sorting enabled exploring user experiences with respect to predetermined spatial qualities and contextual aspects.Originality/valueSpatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting methods have not previously been applied in workplace studies. They facilitate dialogue, participation and user involvement and provide insights for making evidence-based recommendations for designing or redesigning office environments that fit users’ needs and preferences

Discrepancies between intended and actual use in Activity-based Flexible Offices - A literature review.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature addressing A-FOs, with a focus on use patterns and work conditions. The findings show that A-FOs are not always used as intended: territorial behaviours and nesting habits were recurrent in several studies. In this regard, understanding employees’ job characteristics is essential for optimal configuration of A-FOs, e.g. the type, attributes and number of workspaces. Additionally, employees\ub4 needs, spatial factors and implementation processes require special attention in order to provide supportive office environments

Design for UX in Flexible Offices – Bringing Research and Practice Together

A growing number of organisations are relocating from traditional office environments to flexible office environments (FOEs) such as ‘combi’ or ‘activity-based’ offices. Research efforts are being dedicated to understanding the challenges and benefits that these office designs represent. Yet, there is a gap between design research and practice that limits innovations in FOE design and smears the overall user experience at work. This paper addresses the exploration of design opportunities for artefacts and spaces enabling positive user experience (UX) in FOEs together with experts from a relevant European actor in the office furniture sector. First, an explorative workshop was conducted to understand practitioners’ perspective and priorities when designing for FOEs. Findings from previous research work by the authors plus the workshop results were used to propose and discuss four ‘Design for UX’ areas worthy of further exploration. Among these, the UX of control in FOEs was chosen, and a subsequent workshop was conducted to deepen into the matter. The last session concluded with the formulation of a specific UX proposal to be developed in the near future. The value and originality of this paper reside in two aspects: (i) a UX approach that relies on the ‘innovation of meaning’ and splits from a creative problem-solving mainstream; and (ii) a collaboration between user-centered design research and product development practice that enable the alignment of resources and strategies in the benefit of users and innovation

Design for user experience of control with flexible office environments - explorative user tests with prototypes

The study addresses the prototyping, user testing, re-design, and re-testing of an office furniture concept following a research through design approach. The concept was intended to enable a positive user experience of control over sound stimuli and related distractions in flexible offices. The aims were: (i) to explore design opportunities in relation to experience of control; and (ii) to gain a deeper understaning of how to design for such positive experiences. The results show a limited impact on the experience of control over sound stimuli in the offices where the concept was tested, and a noticeable positive effect on control over privacy, visual distraction, and (to a lesser extent) work tasks. In this sense, the concept was meaningful for the users and opened up new opportunities for control over stimuli in flexible offices. The context, temporality of user experiences, and prototype fidelity were the keys to explaining the results