Activity-Based Working

Activity-based working (ABW) is an office model where employees share a range of work settings and pick the one that fits each task: a quiet room for focused work, a project table for group work, a booth for calls. The idea started in the Netherlands in the 1990s and is back on real estate agendas. In 2026, 40% of organizations surveyed by CBRE use activity-based office concepts, up from 17% in 2024.

What is ABW?

ABW treats the office as a set of shared work settings. You plan space around the activities people do during a day, then give them the freedom to move between settings as their work changes.

The model is usually credited to Erik Veldhoen, whose consultancy Veldhoen + Company was founded in 1989. Its 1996 project for the Dutch insurer Interpolis paired unassigned workspaces with wireless technology and a culture of trusting employees to work anywhere.

Two differences separate ABW from assigned seating:

• Ownership: every desk and room is shared, and personal items live in lockers.
• Variety: the office holds several types of space in deliberate proportions, so the right setting is available for the task at hand.

For benefits and rollout steps in more depth, see our full guide to ABW.

Why fixed desk assignments don't match how employees work

An assigned desk assumes one setting suits every task. A typical day mixes solo focus, video calls, planning sessions and quick conversations, and a single desk in an open plan handles only some of these well.

Hybrid schedules widen the gap. In a hybrid workplace, an assigned desk sits empty on every remote day, and CBRE puts average global building utilization at 53% in 2026. Companies end up paying for desks that are empty half the week while meeting rooms stay overbooked.

The zone types an ABW office uses

Most ABW offices combine five or six zone types:

• Focus rooms and quiet zones for deep work, with library-style rules on noise and calls.
• Collaboration areas with project tables, whiteboards and screens for teams working together for a few hours.
• Bookable meeting rooms in several sizes, each equipped for video.
• Phone booths for one-person calls, which take pressure off the meeting rooms.
• Touchdown desks for short stays between meetings.
• Social and learning spaces such as a cafe, lounge or training room.

The mix is a flexible workplace design decision and changes by organization. CBRE's activity-based benchmark splits space into 40% individual, 20% group, 15% support and 25% amenity, compared with a current average of 35%, 19%, 24% and 22%.

Which teams and organizations suit ABW

ABW works best for people whose days include many different activities. Leesman's study of more than 70,000 employees found that people with complex work patterns get the most from ABW, while those with low activity complexity may see limited benefit.

Good fits include:

• Product, marketing, sales and consulting teams that switch between focus work and group work.
• Hybrid teams that come in two or three days a week, mostly for collaboration.
• Companies consolidating floors or moving into a new building, where the redesign cost is already planned.

Roles tied to specialized equipment or to one fixed workstation, such as lab staff or trading desks, usually keep assigned space. ABW is one of several models covered in our guide to flexible workspaces.

The challenges that affect ABW implementation

Concentration and privacy

A review of 17 studies covering 36,039 participants found ABW helps interaction and satisfaction with the workspace but is unfavorable for concentration and privacy. Enough enclosed focus space addresses the concentration problem directly.

Productivity trade-offs

A 2023 review of 23 studies compared ABW with private offices and favored private offices on every measure except physical activity. The authors advise weighing real estate savings against the effect on productivity.

Belonging and habits

In Gensler's 2026 survey, nearly 60% of employees in unassigned environments said they'd prefer a dedicated workspace. Many employees also return to the same desk every day, which cancels out the choice ABW is meant to offer.

Guessing the zone mix

Opening-day proportions are an estimate. Booking and occupancy data from office management software shows which zones fill up and which sit empty, so you can rebalance the floor and fold the results into wider office space optimization.

FAQ

Is activity-based working the same as hot desking?

No. Hot desking gives employees shared desks, usually identical, on a first-come basis. ABW designs a range of settings matched to different tasks and expects people to move between them during the day. An ABW office often includes some hot desks as touchdown points alongside focus rooms, booths and project spaces.

What technology does an ABW environment require?

At minimum, laptops, reliable Wi-Fi across every zone and video equipment in meeting rooms. Most offices also add desk and room booking, lockers, wayfinding screens and occupancy sensors or badge data. Booking tools matter most because they show employees what's free and give workplace teams usage data.

How do you measure whether ABW is working?

Track utilization by zone type, booking no-shows and how often focus rooms are full. Pair that with short employee surveys on concentration, ease of finding space and team connection. Review the numbers quarterly and adjust the zone mix when one setting runs consistently above or below demand.

Can ABW work in a small office?

Yes, at a smaller scale. A 30-person office can offer a quiet room, two phone booths, a project table and a few touchdown desks instead of rows of assigned seats. Small teams can often change the mix faster than large ones.