Flexible working only really feels good when your team can quickly find a place to focus and have conversations that aren’t meant for everyone. At frameoffices, it helps if the way you book and use spaces matches your work rhythm. That’s how “anything goes” stays genuinely “easy to use.” You avoid people having to figure out-again and again-where they’re sitting, and you make the intent clear: where do you call, where do you meet, and where do you work in silence?
Start with your workweek, not the menu of options
Start with your week. You’ll quickly see which spaces you actually need: focus, meetings, and hosting external visitors.
If you’re on calls a lot (clients, candidates, suppliers), check whether your conversations are naturally shielded. A simple test: if you can take a call at normal volume in an open area and someone two desks away can repeat what you said, then a phone booth, enclosed meeting room, or private office is usually a better fit.
If you have fixed team days, it’s calmer when there’s simply enough space on those days. You notice it immediately when there isn’t: you start shuffling times or rooms because there’s “just nothing free.” In that case, a base setup (assigned desks or a small private office) often feels better than booking everything ad hoc.
And when visitors come in, you want reception and the space to support that without hassle. So: being able to welcome someone and have a conversation without people next to you being able to follow it word for word-and without having to hunt for a free room first.
What you gain from this: clarity. Your team knows where to go for what type of work, so there’s less to coordinate.
Flexibility: great for growth, less great for rhythm
Flexible booking works well if your team size fluctuates or if you work hybrid. For example, you can book extra space for a project week and then scale back afterward.
Make sure flexibility keeps your rhythm and budget predictable, instead of making things feel restless. Two checks that often save a lot of hassle:
– You keep costs steadier when your booking pattern moves with recurring extras, like additional meeting space or extra coworking days.
– Planning runs smoother when you account for moments when lots of teams want to book at the same time, like Monday morning or a fixed team day.
What often feels calmer: if your team meets together at least one fixed day per week, a base (for example a small private office or assigned desks) usually gives more grip than booking everything ad hoc. Flexible add-ons then cover peaks, like extra meetings or temporarily more people. If you mostly work solo and only meet up occasionally, ad hoc booking makes sense: you’re less likely to pay for space you don’t use.
Privacy: you only miss it when it’s gone
Privacy isn’t just “a door that can close.” It’s also about: can you talk without listeners, and can you work without constantly getting distracted? For confidential calls, HR conversations, or sales calls, it helps when the space takes care of that for you-so you don’t have to keep checking who might be listening.
A practical rule of thumb: if you can follow other people’s conversations word for word, choose a setting where that happens less. A private office or enclosed meeting room often brings more calm: people whisper less, get through work faster, and lose less energy to stimuli.
One effect of a private office can be that the spontaneous “got two minutes?” happens less naturally. You’ll recognize it when people start chatting or calling even though they’re actually sitting near each other, or when quick questions get left hanging. What helps: a fixed place or moment for quick check-ins (for example a short stand-up on your team day) and open areas for quick questions.
During a viewing: sit down and listen-can you follow conversations, or do you mostly hear background noise? Do a short call and pay attention to reverb or echo. And look at phone booths and quiet zones: not just whether they exist, but whether they’re logically placed and visibly in use.
Keep it simple for your team: one way of working, no booking chaos
Irritation usually comes from unclear expectations, not from the building. A simple, consistent way of working removes noise: who books what, how far ahead, and which signals mean “we book extra” or “we scale back” (for example when the number of client calls increases or when an extra team day gets added). Then flexibility feels like adapting, and privacy feels like something that’s simply well arranged-without extra hassle.
