Have you heard of "ABW (Active Based Working)"?
This is a new work model originating in the Netherlands, allowing employees to choose their working hours and location based on their job content and mood. It's currently adopted by many European and American companies and is quite popular in countries like Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
In Japan, an increasing number of companies are now accepting and adopting work models that are not limited to a single designated location, such as "flexible seating" and "remote working."
ABW is more than just adding sofas and phone booths to the workplace. For ABW to be effective within a company, four elements are needed: design, sensory experience, behavioral reinforcement, and iterative learning.
1. Design. An ABW workspace design is about having various space types under one roof. Whatever the activity, we have the corresponding space type for you.
2. Sensory Experience. ABW spaces need to provide employees with clear, implicit cues on how to use the space. Based on the type of work they are currently doing, determine which spaces are suitable for them. Provide sufficient psychological space to focus on the current work content. In this way, different environmental elements meet the current work context, allowing people to naturally enjoy using each space in different ways.
3. Behavioral Reinforcement. With optimal ABW design and sensory cues, the space itself will be most effective when people are aware of what they should expect from it. For example, maintaining quiet in a focused work environment will make colleagues using the phone feel it and automatically go to the phone booth to make a call.
4. Iterative Learning. When company leaders fully embrace the change in mindset, combining it with the ever-evolving design, behavior, and programming of the workplace, employees will be truly empowered to adopt new ways of working like ABW. When leaders commit to establishing feedback loops through qualitative and quantitative data and implementing findings to improve the workspace, they help ensure the success of ABW spaces.
Active work is a work style that allows employees to choose different settings based on the nature of their current work, combining workplace experience to enable them to use these spaces throughout the day. The idea is that employees are naturally more efficient if they have the right space to complete their tasks.
