Designing for Focus: Why Your Office Might Be Draining Productivity
In today’s distracted world, businesses that design for focus will outperform. Here's how Systemcenter creates environments where people thrive.
You sit down with your to-do list, your venti cold brew (extra foam), and an intention to absolutely seize the day.
Then come the interruptions. Pings. Pop-ins. Background calls. A flood of emails. Before you know it, your morning’s momentum is gone—and your focus with it.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone. Today, the average attention span on a screen is just 47 seconds. Typical office noise can reduce productivity on focused tasks by up to 66%. And poor ergonomics can lower output by nearly 18%.
Anduril Industries, a leader in next-gen defense technology, offers its remote Honolulu team a thoughtfully designed space that supports both collaboration and focus. Larger phone booths accommodate group meetings, while individual pods offer privacy for heads-down work. Lounge areas throughout encourage impromptu conversations, creative exchange—or simply a moment to recharge.
The modern workplace isn’t just where work happens—it shapes how well it happens.
At Systemcenter, we help businesses design intentional environments that support clarity, collaboration, and deep thinking.
Here are the key elements essential to supporting focus in the workplace:
- Acoustic planning reduces cognitive fatigue and noise-related stress.
- Defined zones signal where it’s time to collaborate, focus, or recharge.
- Ergonomic comfort & movement-friendly design allow the body to support the mind.
While we are a commercial furniture dealership, this isn’t a transactional process where we simply sell furniture pieces. We take a consultative approach to understand your organization’s needs and design environments that enable performance, build culture, and drive results.
Inside Hawaii Pacific University’s new Executive Offices, ergonomic seating like Haworth’s Fern Chair—engineered for comfort, flexibility, and continuous support—helps ensure that when the body is supported, the mind can stay focused, clear, and productive.
Focus is the new competitive edge—especially in a world where deep thinking and innovation matter more than ever. The companies that invest in distraction-resistant environments today will be the ones solving tomorrow’s biggest problems.
Distraction is a design issue. We help fix it.
For more information on how we can help support your workforce to do their best work, please contact us at info@systemcenter.com.
By Kera Yong, Director of Marketing at Systemcenter—A self-professed focus struggler on a mission to design workspaces that empower both collaboration and deep thinking, so employees can do their best work today and tomorrow.
