The breakout space is an area of the office that is distinct from the traditional workspaces with rows of desks, fixed monitors and chairs. Breakout spaces tend to feature individual workstations which can be desks, sofas or chairs paired with tables to create colourful, comfortable and flexible seating arrangements.
While you might have associated breakout area furniture with cutting-edge tech or creative companies and fun breakout furniture, the new needs of the post-pandemic workspace mean that every company can benefit from the flexibility of breakout furniture as employee attendance and office layouts change.
Many offices and studios saw the benefits of flexible working during the pandemic and have used the experience to learn more about new ways of working. Workspaces are getting smaller and office breakout area furniture has become the solution that can best accommodate the needs of the new workforce.
The new office features zoned areas designed to incorporate spaces for quiet work, meetings and team building. Where the workforce can be flexible, people are attending the office for very different reasons. Younger staff who may live with parents or in shared housing crave contact and the hustle and bustle of the office. Face-to-face training has been missed and spaces are needed to facilitate this type of communal working.
Other workers are coming into the office specifically to make the most of a dedicated quiet space for solo work or deep-work and, for those who have been at home hunched over a laptop, the more ergonomically sound the breakout space furniture, the better. For these workers, popular office breakout furniture can include comfortable chairs and sofas with height-adjustable laptop tables and even built-in chargers.
The benefits of hybrid working aren’t just for employees. Companies have taken advantage of this new work model to downsize expensive office space. But smart managers know that smaller doesn’t have to mean less efficient. They plan a proportion of bookable desk spaces as well as cleverly designed soft spaces like booths or high-backed chairs where private or livelier conversations can happen.
Hot desks combine brilliantly with breakout furniture to create multi-purpose workspaces with different zones. For example, your space planning could include zones for specific teams, perhaps your sales team will sit together when they are in. Quieter departments or those that deal with confidential information could also be placed together, away from busy spaces.
Hot desking allows staff to enjoy properly designed, ergonomic workspaces that can be booked in advance, with no precious office time wasted in finding a seat. Intelligently-designed modular breakout furniture allows teams to move seating with ease – allowing creative collaboration or impromptu meetings or training at any time.
Power, USB and wireless charger can be fitted into coffee table tops, canteen tables, inside staff lockers, sofa armrests or in the side of a breakout chair.
Breakout furniture allows you to really make the most of your commercial workspace – modular breakout furniture like cubes and round seating is designed to fit into all sorts of spaces, even around pillars, meaning no space is ever wasted – essential when offices are shrinking to accommodate a part-time workforce.
These colourful modular cubes are a great example of fun breakout furniture, the sort of modular breakout furniture that works just as well in schools and colleges as it does in open plan offices. But breakout area furniture also comes in very grown-up styles, like booth seating with matching tables or sofas with USB sockets in the arms.
Breakout furniture makes best use of space and allows you to create dedicated areas for teams, encouraging employees into the office to benefit from the opportunities for collaboration that shared seating like sofas and booths encourages. Meanwhile, quiet zones with solo chairs or quiet pods allow deep concentration when required.
As a more modern invention, breakout space furniture often incorporates the latest developments in design and finishings. For example, acoustic panelling can be used with modular furniture groupings to deflect noise, even in open plan offices. Desks and seating feature a variety of built-in cable tidying, USB chargers and power points.
There are several very hard-wearing materials to consider when designing a breakout space. We have listed some of them below with links to some of our other buying guides.
Cafe + Canteen tables – laminate is the hardest-wearing material for these types of tables. It is the same as a kitchen worktop and comes in many colours. It can be easily cleaned and is stain resistant. For more information see our Cafe Table Buying Guide >
Sofas + Chairs – faux-leather or vinyl is one of the hardest-wearing seating materials. It comes with an anti-stain protective coating and can be easily wiped down. When using in a breakout area we would suggest vinyl on the seat and fabric on the back in a matching or complimentary colour. For more information see our Choosing a Sofa Fabric Guide >
Employees love breakout furniture because it looks great, is comfortable and allows them to work flexibly in the office, with a greater degree of control over their day-to-day movements. Employers love properly designed commercial breakout space furniture because it’s affordable, flexible and doesn’t sacrifice ergonomics for great design. Everybody wins!