Office Pods vs. Phone Booths: Pros, Cons, and Ideal Use Cases Explained

Some of Urban 411’s most popular products are our office pods, which are self-contained workspaces designed for one to several people. These are often called phone booths by furniture suppliers, but booths serve different purposes and can the two can fulfill different needs within your office. So what is the difference between the two, and which should you choose? 

What are Office Pods?

Office pods, or meeting pods, are larger and come with a more versatile range of features for a complete, miniature office workstation. Your staff can use them for hours of focused work to prevent distractions from background noise and passers-by. A standard pod includes enough space for a laptop and other items such as notebooks and pens. You can choose office pods built for several people to hold meetings, too. 

Urban 411’s pods include the Smart One, which includes a built-in bar stool, and Smart One Lounge. Both mini office tables are height adjustable, as is the table. The Smart Four and Smart Six are more than double the size to accommodate several people and have fixed centre tables. Our office pods also come with adjustable ventilation, presence detection, charge ports, a power outlet, and type C data extension. Other convenient features are customizable ventilation and lighting settings with a user-friendly interface, 500 lux desk illumination, and the option to schedule use of each pod.

What Makes an Office Phone Booth?

Office phone booths are only large enough to fit one person and have a narrower range of uses. They are mainly suitable for making private phone or video calls, whether you want to drastically reduce background noise or protect confidential information. Phone booths also give staff control over lighting and the visual background. There is no need to worry about random shadows, breezes, or other staff or objects breaking through background filters. This is especially important if you are recording video calls. Another benefit is that you don’t need to worry about your eyes wander when you perceive movement in your peripheral vision, which makes for a more professional image and better-quality call. 

At Urban 411, our Smart One Compact and Frameless pods meet many companies’ needs when it comes to choosing an office phone booth. Both have height-adjustable stools, small tables, charge ports, ceiling lights, high-quality soundproofing, and ventilation. All of our phone booths come with the highest standard of soundproofing, at a rating of 30dB. Reducing sound by 30dB takes normal conversations down to the volume of a whisper in your ear, or creates a sound only one-eighth the volume of the original. A muffling effect takes care of the rest to ensure that no passers-by can hear what’s going on even if they tried. 

We recommend office phone booths for all businesses that deal with information protected by privacy laws, such as those in healthcare and legal industries. If your client base is international and you are unsure of how strict their country’s privacy laws are, it’s best to be on the safe side and assume you need to maintain confidentiality.

Why Urban 411 Offers Both Solutions

Both office pods and phone booths are affordable workplace privacy solutions compared to the high costs involved in permanent renovation. Building new rooms will set you back thousands of dollars, can interfere with your regular work schedule for weeks, and is unsuitable for rented office spaces. Our pods and booths are simple to install and can move with you to a new office space or be rearranged as your business needs shift. Better yet, office pods and booths mean you don’t have to give up an open-plan workplace to protect privacy and boost focus. 

While office pods may be the “best” in terms of versatility, phone booths are more cost effective. We advise clients to consider how many staff will be using pods or phone booths and if they are required for group work before deciding on how many of each type are needed, and the allowable budget. Click here to explore our range of pods and phone booths, or here if you want to ask for further information.