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“I felt like a cow in a barn, chained to a stall all day.” So, after about two years of open concept, she retired some five years early, taking at least a 10-per-cent haircut on the pension.

This is the future. Public Services and Procurement Canada, responsible for housing an estimated 260,000 workers across the country, is pursuing a dramatic drop in the footprint of federal buildings, as much as 30 per cent smaller. (With 1,500 owned or leased buildings and seven million square metres, the consequences for cost and morale are enormous.)

But how to achieve?

Workplace 2.0 and its successors, including “activity based workplaces,” get rid of the traditional layout of cubicle farms and manager offices.

Instead, the space is configured to the task. Gone are individual desks, replaced by shared workstations where employees may sit in a different spot every day. An office may have “zones” — some quiet, some for collaboration, some for group meetings — while employees are encouraged to work at home or any spot with a digital link. The effect? A modern approach, sure, but one that cuts the space per-person almost in half.

Photo by RGAL / Roberta Gal

The government is trying out the new configurations in 19 sites across the country, including 11 in the Ottawa area. Some employees, frankly, hate it: less privacy, less space, nowhere to hang up photos, a weaker connection with the now-dispersed team.

Public Services, meanwhile, says there are early, encouraging signs that activity-based workplaces are an improvement.