Mindful Co-Working-Design

07.03.2025 Knowledge workers, whose performance depends on intense concentration, facing significant challenges in today's working world: Their tasks require not only uninterrupted concentration, but also active collaboration and communication with their colleagues, and often via the very digital tools that disrupt their focus. Our researcher Dandan Pang from the New Work Institute, together with Marianne van Woerkom from Tilburg University, has explored how Mindful Co-working Design (MCD) can navigate these competing demands.

Natascha Branscheidt Author

In brief

Mindful Co-Working Design (MCD) combines focused individual work with mindful collaboration to optimise productivity and social interaction.
Interruptions, goal setting and breaks are integrated into a structured concept that takes into account both individual and social needs.
MCD strengthens autonomy, competence and relatedness, resulting in a more effective and sustainable way of working.

On average, knowledge workers experience around 13 interruptions per day, each lasting 15-20 minutes. This represents a significant fragmentation of work. The increasing shift towards hybrid and shared office spaces can either help or hinder productivity, depending on how these environments are designed. Effective co-working design must balance the competing demands of individual, intensive work, and collaboration and provide solutions that promote both focus and connectivity.

Strategies such as reducing interruptions, implementing goal-setting practices (i.e. identifying one's goals) and encouraging regular breaks are often applied in isolation without considering the potential of an integrated approach. This is because they often fail to take into account the interactive dynamics between employees, which is unexpected given the importance of collaboration and communication in modern work environments. This omission points to another critical gap in research and practice; namely, the need for a comprehensive intervention that addresses not only the individual challenges but also the unique social dimensions that knowledge workers face in a co-working environment.

The present study proposes a Mindful Co-Working Design (MCD) that integrates mindfulness into a co-working design - together with the above-mentioned individual strategies such as interruptions, goal setting and breaks. MCD provides a coherent framework that aims to optimise individual deep work while fostering group interactions, providing a robust response to the diverse demands of modern knowledge workers. An example of this is shown in the following table.

A sample schedule of the mindful co-working half-day:

8:30	Survey pre-test
8:35	Intro
8:40	Check-in meditation
8:45	Goal setting
9:00	Deep work session 1
9:45	Break1
10:00	Deep work session 2
10:45	Break 2
11:00	Deep work session 3
11:45	Check-out meditation
11:50	Wrap up
12:00	Survey – post-test
12:05	Lunch (optional)

Why it works:

Autonomy

MCD satisfies the need for autonomy by placing employees' own initiative during focused sessions, allowing them to set goals that best suit their individual preferences and rhythm.

Competence

By creating an environment that emphasises concentration and deep work, the need for competence is satisfied because participants are able to complete tasks effectively and overcome their challenges.

Connectedness

Last but not least, the need for connectedness is met through the co-working aspect of MCD, which includes mindful social interactions during breaks and collaborative goal-setting activities.

About the study

This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of MCD using mixed methods, including both quantitative online surveys and qualitative experience reports. The quantitative data includes 91 participants (part-time students and their co-workers) in teams of two to five people, who were randomly assigned to either a mindful co-working condition (n = 44) or an active control condition (n = 47). Results showed that while both conditions improved job satisfaction and positive emotions, the mindful co-working condition was significantly more effective in reducing stress and negative affect.

Qualitative results based on inductive coding of 40 experience reports further supported these findings. Participants reported that MCD reduced stress, increased well-being, improved concentration and goal attainment, and fostered respectful interactions.

These findings underscore the value of MCD in managing the dual demands of intense work and collaboration and provide actionable strategies for organisations seeking to promote the well-being and productivity of knowledge workers. Unlike traditional mindfulness training programs that require weeks of commitment, MCD is a practical and scalable intervention that can be easily integrated into workplace routines. Even simple adjustments—such as introducing mindfulness check-ins or structured deep work sessions —could boost workplace wellbeing productivity and foster a more supportive team culture.