How do you plan an office layout for hybrid working?

Size the workstation area for peak-day attendance (usually Tuesday to Thursday) rather than total headcount. Use hot-desking, bookable workstations or shared zones for the rest. Add more meeting rooms than a traditional office would need, since in-office days are now disproportionately about meetings and collaboration. Build in flexible o ffice furniture ( standing desks , divider screens , modular seating) so the same space adapts as patterns change.

What is the best office layout for productivity?

No single layout suits every team, but offices that score well combine focus zones (individual workstations with acoustic privacy), collaboration zones (open tables, meeting rooms), quiet spaces (phone booths, library-style rooms) and social areas. Pure open-plan tends to score badly on focus work; pure cellular tends to score badly on collaboration. A mixed layout that lets people choose where to sit by task usually works best.

Three professionals engaged in a friendly meeting in a bright, modern office. They are seated around a wooden table with laptops, notebooks, and drinks, while natural light streams in through large windows. Plants and soft curtains adding to the relaxed setting.

5 style concepts to inspire your office

You know you want to do up your office but you don’t know where to start. It’s a common problem. That’s why we’ve created some suggestions for how you could layout and furnish your workspace with workstations, break areas and conference rooms, while making optimal use of the office space with the help of both classic and innovative office furniture. Our ready-to-go style concepts are developed by workplace design experts here at AJ Products; they understand the importance of flexibility, focus and collaboration in the workplace, as well as the need for social spaces for relaxation. Explore our concepts here!

Birds eye 3D design of a modern office featuring a bank of desks, collaborative space with sofas and separate meeting room. The office has a modern Scandinavian feel with birch wood furniture and neutral tones.

Modern & stylish - zones for focus and collaboration

Clearly divided zones for individual work, meetings and collaboration, all in neutral tones. A good fit for established teams that need order and structure without committing to a strong visual identity. Get inspired

Birds eye 3D design of a modern office featuring four clearly separated zones: a bank of desks, high table with chairs for team huddles, a social space with sofas, and a separate meeting room with glass walls. The office has a warm and lively feel with colourful soft seating and a mix of oak and white wood furniture.

Colourful & daring - for a lively atmosphere

Colourful seating combined with a mix of oak and white furniture for a warmer, more energetic feel. Creative agencies, design studios, and marketing teams tend to thrive here.Get inspired

Birds eye 3D design of a modern office designed around collaboration. The office has several meeting spaces for private meetings or quick team huddles. The office has a mainly white interior with light blue seating to add a splash of colour for a stylish and refreshing look.

Bright & fresh - collaboration-first layout

An office built around collaboration, with multiple meeting spaces and a splash of colour against a mainly white interior. Suits teams that meet often, run client visits, or need flexible spaces for quick huddles and longer sessions. Get inspired

Birds eye 3D design of a contemporary office with a Scandinavian look and feel. It features birch wood furniture, light grey office chairs, soft seating and screens with blush pink walls, creating a calming atmosphere. The office features a bank of workstations, a hot-desking area, a large walled-off conference room with glass walls, an open sofa area and private pod seating.

Nordic & peaceful - calm, flexible, Scandinavian

Neutral Scandinavian tones, soft seating and private pods alongside a hot-desking area. A natural fit for hybrid teams where attendance varies day to day and people need somewhere quiet when they're in. Get inspired

Birds eye 3D design of an open-plan office designed around focus and calm. The individual workstations each have a high surrounding desk screen for privacy and noise reduction. There is a large conference room with space for 10 people, separated from the rest of the office by glass walls. A small sofa area with laptop tables provides a space for flexible working. The office features light grey wood furniture with an earthy green tone for the seating, screens and walls.

Simple & elegant - focused workstations

Individual workstations with high screens, a walled conference room and earthy tones throughout. Built for focus-heavy work where noise control matters and the room needs to feel calm rather than busy. Get inspired

Explore design concepts where colour and style meet function

Furnishing an entire office can feel like a challenge. That's why we've picked out furniture and accessories from our range, sorted them into stylish colour combinations and put them together in suggested layouts, so it's easier for you to see the potential. Maybe you'll get inspiration for your meeting room? Or find a style that suits your company perfectly! In these concepts, you get tips on how to use a colour scheme to create the right atmosphere and how to layout your space to best suits your team and needs.

Get help from our experts!

Our workplace design team can help with the practical side of an office refit, from selecting furniture and finishes to laying out the floor plan. Whether you're refreshing one room or planning a full move, we'll work through the options with you and find what fits the business.

No project is too big or small!

Conatct us today

Woman smiling at the camera. The woman has blonde hair and is wearing a light blue jacket over a white t-shirt. She is pictured waist up and is sitting on a grey office chair and leaning on a desk that has a laptop and keyboard.

Office furniture layout principles

Whichever concept you go with, the same planning decisions come first.

Zoning – focus work, collaboration, meetings and social time all need different settings. An open-plan office that tries to support all four in one undifferentiated space tends to do none of them well. The five concepts above all use zoning; the difference is the proportion and the tone.
Workstation spacing and ergonomics – the British Council for Offices recommends 6–8 m² of net space per desk. Walkways between rows of workstations should be at least 1,500mm wherever possible, with 1,200mm the absolute minimum. Every screen-based workstation has to meet HSE Display Screen Equipment requirements on chair adjustability, desk depth (700mm minimum), lighting and screen position.

New

Available in several options

Gaming chair LUTON, faux leather, black

Art. no.: 14591

£365.00

Ex. VAT

Available in several options

Standing desk QBUS, dual motor, ergonomic, 1600x1200 mm, silver frame, oak

Art. no.: 1620626

£549.00

Ex. VAT

Available in several options

Standing desk FLEXUS, ergonomic, 1600x1200 mm, silver frame, beech

Art. no.: 153251

£449.00

Ex. VAT

Colourful mesh office chair NEWQUAY, black

Art. no.: 15-6582-5

£159.00

Ex. VAT

Package

Office furniture package FLEXUS, 1 desk + 1 pedestal + 2 bookcases

Art. no.: 15647

£609.00

Ex. VAT

Storage by role - the team that handles physical documents needs different storage to the team that lives in cloud apps. Sales teams need somewhere accessible for samples and presentation materials. Finance teams need lockable cabinets for confidential paperwork. Plan storage around what each team uses day to day, rather than a uniform line of cabinets along one wall. See our office storage range for the main options.

Extra deep storage cabinet SPIRIT, 1900x1020x635 mm, white, white

Art. no.: 103671

£655.00

Ex. VAT

Available in several options

Storage cabinet with electronic lock SAFE, 1900x1000x400 mm, white

Art. no.: 17431

£499.00

Ex. VAT

Available in several options

Tambour cabinet STUDIO, 1950x1000x420 mm, black, black

Art. no.: 104666

£559.00

Ex. VAT

Flatpack metal storage cabinet CLICK, 1800x916x422 mm, grey

Art. no.: 103621

£175.00

Ex. VAT

Available in several options

Complete metal drawing cabinet SKETCH, double, A0, laminate top, white

Art. no.: 105782

£2,049.00

Ex. VAT

Seating by task - an office chair for focused work has different requirements to a conference chair used for an hour at a time, or a soft seat in a breakout area. One chair shouldn't be expected to do all three jobs. The office chairs and conference chairs ranges are separated for that reason.
Acoustics - open-plan offices fail on noise more often than on space. Acoustic panels and floor screens make more difference to perceived productivity than another row of desks. Plan the acoustic treatment alongside the layout, before staff start complaining about background noise.

Acoustic panel SATELLITE, ceiling hung, Ø 600 mm, 3-pack, white

Art. no.: 138633

£149.00

Ex. VAT

Acoustic panel SATELLITE, ceiling hung, Ø 1170 mm, white

Art. no.: 138653

£145.00

Ex. VAT

Budget wooden office screen EASE, 1480x1000x18 mm, white

Art. no.: 135363

£97.50

Ex. VAT

Acoustic panel SATELLITE, ceiling hung, Ø 780 mm, white

Art. no.: 138643

£99.00

Ex. VAT

Acoustic panel PATTERN, 8-pack, 600x600x11 mm, black

Art. no.: 138524

£129.00

Ex. VAT

How to plan an office furniture layout

Walk the existing office on a typical Tuesday or Wednesday. Note where people sit, which meeting rooms get booked, which sit empty, and where the noise complaints come from. That data is more useful than headcount alone.

Establish your real occupancy pattern. Plan for peak-day attendance, not total headcount. For most hybrid teams that's a Tuesday or Wednesday. Count how many people are in on those days, and size the workstation zone for that number plus a small margin.
Calculate space per workstation. The British Council for Offices recommends 10–12 m² of gross internal area per workstation, including circulation and shared facilities. Net useable space per desk is 6–8 m². Multiply by peak-day attendance for the workstation total, then add meeting rooms, breakout space and quiet zones on top.
Block out zones on paper. Put workstations away from the entrance, with meeting rooms and acoustic collab sofas nearby. Soft seating and break spaces go somewhere with daylight if you can manage it. Keep heavy-traffic routes (printers, kitchen) away from the focus areas.
Drop in real furniture dimensions. A standard desk is 1,600 x 800mm. A meeting table for six is around 1,800 x 900mm. A six-person soft seating cluster needs roughly 3 x 3m of floor space including circulation. If it all doesn't fit, the answer is fewer fixed desks and more hot-desking. Squeezing in smaller furniture rarely works in practice.
Build acoustics and lighting into the layout. These get cut first when budget tightens, and they're the first things staff complain about afterwards. Specify the acoustic treatment and lighting at the layout stage, not as fit-out extras.

For more detail on choosing specific furniture once your layout is sketched, see our buying guides on choosing the best office desk, choosing an office chair and picking the right storage.

How do you plan an office layout for hybrid working?
Size the workstation area for peak-day attendance (usually Tuesday to Thursday) rather than total headcount. Use hot-desking, bookable workstations or shared zones for the rest. Add more meeting rooms than a traditional office would need, since in-office days are now disproportionately about meetings and collaboration. Build in flexible office furniture (standing desks, divider screens, modular seating) so the same space adapts as patterns change.
What is the best office layout for productivity?
No single layout suits every team, but offices that score well combine focus zones (individual workstations with acoustic privacy), collaboration zones (open tables, meeting rooms), quiet spaces (phone booths, library-style rooms) and social areas. Pure open-plan tends to score badly on focus work; pure cellular tends to score badly on collaboration. A mixed layout that lets people choose where to sit by task usually works best.

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