Do you ever reach the end of your workday and feel like you can’t think straight? At the end of the week, do you find your energy depleted? It’s all you can do to get home, collapse on the couch and order in dinner. You’re not alone. Steelcase researchers found leaders and their teams are under increased pressure at work — so much so, it’s taking a toll on people’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

So many or us are working in fast-paced environments where we experience:

• Constant context switching — moving from one topic to another, from a broad to a narrow view
• The need to manage and process large amounts of information and filter for relevance
• Shifting from visible to protected environments — with a high need for access to privacy
• Spanning topics and time zones and juggling highly-fragmented schedules
• Highy-mobile work behaviors
• High levels of stress while meeting high performance expectations

Researchers worked with designers to inform a new approach to helping people move, think and feel better. The solution: Mackinac (pronounced MAK-uh-naw) is a total re-envisioning of the work environment.

“While creating Mackinac, we thought about how to support collaboration, focus and respite all in a compact footprint – making it easier for people to move from one type of work to another,” said Bill Bennie, Steelcase industrial design manager. “We wanted to help people balance intense work with periods of rejuvenation and balance our needs for privacy with needs to connect with others.”

Mackinac contains a series of “microzones” — making it simpler for people to shift from individual work to group work and providing the privacy people need to get away for a bit and rejuvenate. The height-adjustable cantilever worksurfaces and shelving towers can combine in a variety of ways to support these different types of work either in a closed office or the open plan.

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