FAQs

ABW is most effective in organisations where individual knowledge work, collaborative discussion, and call-based communication are all regular daily activities — professional services, technology, creative agencies, financial services, consulting, and media are canonical examples. It works less well in roles requiring sustained fixed-workstation presence (laboratory work, manufacturing-adjacent office functions, roles with multiple physical screens or

Yes. Many organisations begin by deploying pods into their existing open-plan layout as a first step — creating de facto focus and call zones without a formal ABW transition. This approach delivers immediate acoustic improvement for the highest-impact use cases (individual calls, video meetings, focused work) and generates the utilisation data needed to inform a

Hot-desking reduces desk-to-person ratio to save real estate. ABW redesigns the workspace mix to match activity types. In hot-desking without ABW, removing desks without providing enclosed alternatives forces employees to conduct calls and focus work in an open environment — replicating the open-plan office’s problems. In ABW, enclosed pods replace some desk space, not supplement

Based on the zone ratio framework above: for a 50-person team with 60% average office attendance (30 people in office on a typical day), the focus and call zone allocation (25–35% + 15–20% of workspace) should provide approximately 8–12 enclosed pod spaces. A starting configuration of 5 × Model S/M (focus and solo calls) +

The research consistently shows that poorly implemented ABW — particularly hot-desking without purpose-specific zone variety — reduces satisfaction. Well-implemented ABW with high-quality zone variety, including accessible enclosed focus spaces, shows neutral to positive satisfaction outcomes. The critical variable is whether employees have reliable access to the acoustic environment they need for their current task. Pods

HIGHKA pods feature a dual-channel turbine ventilation system that operates actively throughout occupancy — not on a timer or motion trigger. When the pod is unoccupied, the system actively refreshes the air every 30 minutes. After each use, a dedicated odour clearance cycle prepares the pod for the next user. Crucially, HIGHKA’s microwave radar breathing

Acoustic surface treatment — panels, ceiling tiles, carpet — reduces reverberation and lowers the ambient noise floor by 3–10 dB in typical applications. This is meaningful background improvement that makes the overall acoustic environment more comfortable. However, it cannot achieve speech privacy, cannot bring ambient levels below 40 dB in active open-plan environments, and cannot

Sound masking raises the ambient noise floor to reduce speech intelligibility across the open floor — it makes conversations harder to understand for distant listeners. It does not reduce the noise level inside a call space, and it does not prevent a pod occupant’s voice from being heard by adjacent colleagues. Soundproof pods provide physical

Headphones address the individual perception of noise for the wearer. They do not solve the outbound audio quality problem — background office noise remains audible to remote call participants regardless of the caller’s headphone use. They do not provide an enclosed focus environment. And as the Interface research shows, 44% of employers currently do nothing

A commonly applied planning ratio is one pod per 8–10 employees for organisations where calls, video meetings, and focused individual work are regular daily activities. The model mix matters: if 60% of private space demand is individual (calls, focus), 30% is two-person, and 10% is three-to-four person, the pod configuration should approximately reflect that split.