The Flow-Compatible Workplace: A New Research Frontier for Facility Management

This article introduces the “flow-compatible workplace” as a new research frontier for facility management. It argues that FM must look beyond assets, efficiency, and utilisation to examine how physical, operational, digital, and relational systems influence focus, feedback, capability, psychological safety, and cognitive recovery. Drawing on academic research and the author’s dissertation, the article presents flow as a condition that workplace systems can support, rather than a psychological state organisations can manufacture. It also cautions against using flow to justify surveillance or work intensification. The article concludes with a research agenda for designing workplaces that sustain both human and operational performance.