Activity Based Working (ABW) is an office workplace planning model that is growing in popularity - particularly among companies dependent on innovation and/or staffed by Gen-Y and millennial employees. ABW is a model in which individuals do not have an assigned traditional work-space (a desk). Rather, all employees share from a pool of unassigned desks but also an assortment of alternative work-spaces such as open collaboration areas, team classroom space, informal work lounges, closed focus rooms and small meeting rooms.

The International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) in partnership with Leesman recently published an exhaustive study on the ABW model over a 1 year period, utilizing feedback from over 70,000 users currently working in Activity Based Workplaces. One of their key findings was that individual satisfaction (and thereby productivity) rises significantly with ABW. However, this increase is satisfaction only occurs for the users that adapt to and embrace the model. The highlights of the study can be accessed here.