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Picture a bustling open-plan office. Someone’s on a call at the next desk while two colleagues are having a catch-up behind you. Sound familiar?
Open-plan offices are great for collaboration, but they can come with a real cost in terms of noise, interruptions and lack of privacy. For employees who need to concentrate or make sensitive calls, a busy office floor can quickly become a barrier to actually getting things done.
That’s where office phone booths come in. Compact, self-contained and purpose-built for focus, privacy booths are fast becoming one of the most practical additions to modern workplaces. Read on to find out more about how the office phone booths we supply address the productivity challenges often found in open-plan workspaces – and what to look for when choosing the right focus booth for your team.
Noise is one of the biggest productivity killers in any open-plan environment. Ringing phones, background chatter and impromptu conversations all pull employees’ attention away from telephone conversations. With research from the University of California finding that it takes an average of 23 minutes to fully regain focus after an interruption, it’s clear a significant hit to output can arise when distractions happen multiple times a day.
Not every call can be taken at your desk. HR discussions, client negotiations and confidential project updates all require a level of discretion that an open office simply can’t provide. Without a privacy booth or similar private space, employees are forced to step outside, book meeting rooms for a quick call, or worse – hold sensitive conversations within earshot of their colleagues.
Hybrid working has transformed how offices are used. With teams rotating in and out on different days, desks are often shared and floor plans have become more fluid. That flexibility is valuable, but it also creates unpredictable noise levels and fewer permanent quiet spaces. As a result, employees coming in to the office can find the environment more distracting for making calls than working from home.
Office phone booths tackle the core issues of noise, privacy and focus head on. By giving employees a dedicated quiet space, they create the conditions needed for focused, uninterrupted conversation.
Acoustic phone booths are designed to absorb ambient sound, creating a noticeably quieter environment inside. Employees can concentrate without being pulled into the noise around them. Just as importantly, the noise reducing properties of the booth ensures that someone on a call won’t disrupt the rest of the team.
A privacy booth gives employees somewhere to take confidential calls without worrying about who’s listening. Client briefings, HR conversations and sensitive project discussions can all be handled professionally, without the need to book a full meeting room.
Beyond calls, focus booths work well as a space for any task that demands deep concentration. A short burst of uninterrupted work, free from the noise and visual distractions of an open workspace can significantly improve output quality and reduce errors.
Constant noise and a lack of personal space can take a toll over time. Having access to a quiet retreat reduces stress, improves job satisfaction and gives employees a sense of control over their working environment.
Solo booths are ideal for individual calls, video meetings or focused solo work. Compact enough to fit into most office layouts, models like the Kolo Solo Phone Booth and the Milli Phone Booth offer everything needed for a productive session, including excellent soundproofing, built-in lighting and charging points. If you’d like your office phone booth to double as a space for seated solo work, look no further than the Milli Work Pod.
For environments where noise reduction is a priority, acoustic phone booths with enhanced noise-reducing properties take things a step further. The Berlin Acoustics Focus Phone Booth features sound-absorbing double walls engineered to reduce ambient noise and ensure speech privacy. Materials, construction and ventilation all play a role in how effective an acoustic booth is, so it’s worth comparing specifications carefully. All the office phone booths we supply feature a handy at-a-glance guide to their acoustic privacy levels.
Booths work best when positioned near high-traffic areas, where the need for a quiet retreat is greatest. Alternatively, placing them in slightly more isolated corners of the office encourages use without creating bottlenecks. Think about where the noise is highest, and where employees currently struggle to find privacy.
A single booth for a team of 30 may not make much difference. A general rule of thumb is to provide one booth for every 8–12 employees, although of course this depends on how call-heavy your team’s work is. Clear usage guidelines such as a maximum session length during peak hours help keep access fair and reduce frustration.
Adequate headroom, proper ventilation and good lighting are key. Aesthetics matter too, and the privacy booths we supply are available in a wide range of colours and finishes, making it straightforward to enhance your office environment with a striking design choice.
Phone booths are high-use pieces of furniture, so a regular cleaning schedule is essential. Usage reminders help employees understand how to use the booths considerately. Some businesses also use simple booking systems to manage availability during busy periods.
The upfront cost of a quality office phone booth ranges from approximately £3,550 upwards. However, when weighed against the productivity gains from reduced interruptions, the cost savings from freeing up meeting rooms and the improvement in employee satisfaction, it’s a sound investment. For purchases over £5,000, leasing options are also available.
Phone booths come in a range of sizes, including compact single-person models with a small footprint that slot easily into smaller offices. A growing number of SMEs and co-working spaces use them precisely because they deliver a big impact without taking up much room. They also offer a great way of making the most of underused areas such as awkward corners, and even corridors.
This concern rarely bears out in practice. Once employees experience the difference a quiet, private space makes, adoption tends to be quick and consistent. The key is making booths visible, accessible and comfortable, which is easily achieved with the range we offer.
The shift towards flexible and hybrid working has made the demand for focused, private spaces a permanent feature of office planning. As hot-desking becomes more common and office attendance patterns continue to vary, businesses are increasingly building focus booths into their core layout rather than treating them as an afterthought. Sustainable materials are also becoming more prominent. For example, the Milli Phone Booth features eco-friendly acoustic panels with a minimum of 50% recycled content.
Yes. By reducing noise distractions and providing a private space for focused work and calls, phone booths address two of the most significant barriers to productivity in open-plan offices. Employees report lower stress levels and greater satisfaction when quiet spaces are available.
The right type depends on how your team works. Booths with enhanced soundproofing are the best choice where privacy is a high priority. We can advise on the best solutions for your space, acoustic needs and budgets.
Consider your available floor space, the number of employees who will need access, the level of acoustic performance required, and how the booth will fit with your existing office aesthetic. It’s also worth thinking about features such as seating, built-in lighting and power sockets.
They’re particularly well suited to open-plan offices, which is exactly where noise and lack of privacy are most acute. A well-placed booth can transform how effectively employees work within that environment.
Prices start from around £3,550 plus VAT. Given the measurable gains in productivity, the reduction in meeting room pressure and the positive effect on employee wellbeing, most businesses find that phone booths pay for themselves relatively quickly.
Phone booths aren’t a luxury – they’re a practical solution to a real and well-documented problem. Noisy, open-plan offices create friction. Focused, private spaces remove it. The result is a more productive team, a calmer working environment and employees who feel their needs are taken seriously.
At Lismark, we help offices create private, productive spaces that boost performance and employee satisfaction. Browse our full range of office phone booths, or get in touch with our team to discuss the right solution for your workplace. Call us on 0116 251 7741 or contact us here.
Open-plan offices have become the norm in the UK and worldwide, and although they facilitate collaboration and communication, they can sometimes raise questions about privacy and the ability to have sensitive conversations.
Luckily, there are some simple ways to create privacy for employees in open-plan office environments, without losing the benefits of ease of movement, versatile seating plans and flexibility for individuals who only work from the office for some of the time.
Here are some of the best ways to create privacy for employees at their desk, in ad hoc meetings and when making private phone calls.
Office pods give you instant privacy by enclosing a desk or meeting space with acoustic shields. This reduces the transmission of sound to the surrounding area and provides a visual barrier to passers-by too.
Work pods and booths have other benefits too. As well as protecting privacy, they can give workers the space they need to concentrate on a challenging or time-consuming task. Employees face fewer distractions than in a large open-plan space, ensuring productivity and the quality of their work are optimised.
Acoustic pods are not just for individual workstations. They can also provide a shielded area in which groups of colleagues can meet to discuss projects, problems, or anything else that needs their attention.
Depending on the size of your team, you might want to consider installing larger meeting pods. These can accommodate groups – in the case of Magna Extra Large Meeting Pods, up to eight people at a time – while serving as comfortable breakout spaces when not in use for meetings.
Office phone booths are a fantastic way to allow private phone calls to take place without the risk of eavesdropping. That’s not to say that any of your employees would listen in intentionally, but keeping calls separate from the rest of your office is a sensible precaution.
Modern office phone booths don’t have to be boxy. Even a low acoustic surround can shield conversations from people nearby, such as on our Brix 61 Solo Work Booth. It’s all about meeting the needs of your workforce, while providing them with comfortable, usable spaces for private discussions and phone calls.
You might not need 100% privacy or total soundproofing in order to reduce the risk of calls and conversations being overheard. High-back sofas are a great way to break up the transmission of sound, without completely enclosing your employees.
If you prefer to leave your acoustic pods open to the rest of the office, you might want to place them slightly further away from the busiest areas, where there is less chance of individuals in either area disturbing their colleagues.
You might not need 360-degree privacy. In some cases, it can be appropriate for a meeting booth to open on to the team’s work area, while being shielded from the rest of the office for security reasons, or just to avoid distracting co-workers.
Meeting pods with an acoustic surround can be orientated to provide maximum privacy in the desired direction, with ease of access to the seating area they serve, creating a best of both worlds solution in busy offices.
Our work pods and booths are designed to be as versatile as possible, with comfortable seating, optional mains electricity outlets and a range of built-in desks to choose from. All of this adds up to privacy with flexibility for your entire workforce.
Why does this matter? It gives your employees and managers options. Conversations can take place in surroundings that meet the privacy needs on the day. If a discussion is more sensitive, it can move inside a fully enclosed acoustic pod. This means you can rest assured that you have catered for your workforce privacy needs.
Even open-plan offices don’t have unlimited space, but with compact meeting pods and office phone booths available, you can create clearly defined private spaces in even the smallest offices.
Traditional square-footprint booths with straight vertical sides are among the most space-saving and standing phone booths work well as part of the modern sit stand office trend, allowing employees to stretch their legs while on a call.
Performance acoustic insulation materials mean pods and booths can be placed close to each other, with little to no audio leakage between adjacent pods, depending on which booth design you choose.
To find out more about any of our acoustic pods, work booths, meeting pods and office phone booths, please get in touch today and we will be happy to discuss your privacy needs.
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