Bene Office Furniture

Face to Face / Back to Back

Team work and communication are essential aspects of productivity in the office. The back-to-back positioning of workplaces helps to create those free spaces that are required for privacy and uninterrupted work. Because there is nothing more distracting to humans than other people. The face-to-face position is advantageous whenever work processes require active collaboration among employees.

Studies conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering show that working in a T-layout where workers are directly facing one another can lead to distractions of up to three hours per day as a result of phone calls and discussions. Studies by Refa show that 60 % of all employees working in a T-layout often complain about noise at the office. The illustrations exemplify how double workstations in a U-layout, arranged back-to-back, can increase performance and reduce distractions.




U-Layout

The quality of the U-layout is noticeably improved when the area behind the employees is protected and screened off. At the same time, cabinets behind the employees provide enough space for personal storage. The comfort and efficiency of wall-oriented work are increased either with organisable dividing walls or office walls.


T-Layout

It is astounding that, in office planning, arrangements of double workstations blocked off in the classical face-to-face pattern are still dominant. Perhaps only because, despite the numerous disadvantages in terms of acoustic and visual distractions, it looks back on a long tradition.