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How do you design a hybrid workplace? Better yet, how do you create an office space that invites your employees to reengage with in-person meetings while still providing the support and flexibility of a work-from-home schedule? It’s a question thousands of offices have asked since remote work became the norm, but few have been able to answer.

It’s no secret that companies want their employees back in the workplace. Since the start of the remote work revolution, dozens of studies have shown that in-person interactions are proven to enhance cooperation and communication among groups. However, many people have grown accustomed to the many luxuries of remote work, and the thought of leaving their remote lifestyle behind has become a nonstarter for even the most loyal employees.

The key to designing a hybrid office, according to Jack Cline, President of Lost Angles-based commercial real estate brokerage Lee & Associates, starts by cultivating an atmosphere and creating a group space. “Designing an open office space concept coupled with amenities and a workplace that provides an experience of value will help employees feel more welcome.” Companies can do their best to provide employees with free lunches and top-of-the-line coffee, but if that’s all the office has to offer, many workers will opt to skip the daily commute and remain remote. Instead, as Jack suggests, the key to building a successful hybrid office is to offer your employees tangible, practical benefits that can’t be found over a one-on-one zoom and never-ending email chains.

If you’ve spent any amount of time texting with a large group of friends, you know how easy it is to get locked into a conversation. When you’re in the thick of it, you’re laughing at inside jokes, reacting to hot gossip, making plans, and engaging in thought-provoking conversation all at once. It can be equal parts intoxicating and distracting, but it’s these interactions that help maintain and build friendships over time and distance.

The same principle applies to the workplace. The tiny micro-conversations that happen at the coffee machine are what bridge the gap between being known as the new guy in accounting to becoming a trusted collaborator. These are the conversations that happen outside your group of team members and spread out across departments. It’s a part of the workday that The Atlantic’s Derek Thomson refers to as soft-work. Soft-work doesn’t have to be limited to discussing your plans for the weekend; soft-work can be mentoring a new hire or learning about a different project that someone else in your company is struggling with. The point of these interactions is to build long-lasting relationships that enhance and encourage collaboration across departments and teams. A hybrid office needs to provide employees with an opportunity to engage in soft-work while simultaneously avoiding the rigid nature of the office cubicle.

According to Architectural Draftsman at AC Design Solutions Zaeem Chaudhary, a hybrid office plan must go beyond the simple open-concept large desk design if they wish to create an atmosphere that encourages this soft-work dynamic while still offering the flexibility and privacy of the work-from-home lifestyle.

“As work becomes more hybrid, office spaces will need to have a flexible design. Meeting rooms should resemble open areas that can be closed off with adjustable barriers to promote more adaptable cooperation on the go. On the other hand, hybrid offices also require more private enclosed spaces to better resemble the at-home working experience and please employees.”

What Zaeem is really talking about is the concept of multifunctional design. It’s something every remote worker is familiar with. The kitchen that doubles as an office; the fireplace mantle that serves as a backdrop for presentations; everyone that works from home understands the importance of having a flexible workspace. If remote workers can transform their living space into a functional office, there’s no reason companies can’t follow suit when it comes to retooling their offices. Offices need to comfortably sit anywhere from one to ten people; board rooms need to have furniture that can be configured differently depending on the size of the team. The more flexibility, the better! That’s why products like whiteboard walls are such a popular choice for hybrid workspaces.

While the future of the workplace will continue to evolve, there’s no denying the growing popularity of the hybrid workplace. Employees will continue to work from home, and employers will continue to yearn for the days of in-office work. However, by providing employees with an office layout that encourages cross-department collaboration and private workstations, employees will continue to make their way into the office in search of an experience that can’t be replicated on a screen or phone call.

Whiteboard walls are the truest form of unfiltered expression. There’s no barrier to entry; if you have an idea, you can write it on the wall. It’s that simple. However, turning a wall into a whiteboard is a more daunting task than the internet would have you believe. If you’re going the DIY method, you’ll need to follow these steps to turn your wall into a whiteboard:

1. Strip paint
2. Repair drywall to create a smooth surface (sand)
3. Apply primer to the wall
4. Depending on which route you choose to take, you’ll need to apply either an industrial adhesive to stick a laminate sheet on the wall or apply specialty paint to actually provide the wall with dry-erase properties.

As a concept, these DIY ideas sound great, but in actuality, DIY whiteboard walls require hours of prep and are difficult to remove after installation. To take things a step further, DIY whiteboard wall applications are not durable, often leaving behind ghost marker stains with repeated use. If durability and aesthetics are qualities you're looking for in your whiteboard wall, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Commercial-grade whiteboard walls are usually designed using a series of steel-backed panels that mount directly to the wall, providing an element of durability and magnetism that you cannot find in traditional DIY whiteboard walls. Over the past few years, the whiteboard wall panel space has diversified, incorporating dozens of material options to choose from, the most common of which include painted-steel, porcelain, and glass surfaces.

Before deciding on a whiteboard wall panel, you need to keep in mind that professional installers are typically billed at an hourly rate. A whiteboard wall installation can range anywhere from 30-minutes to days depending on the number of walls and classification of whiteboard panels in play. For instance, whiteboard wall panels that designate specific left and right-end panels require installers to fully layout and map exact panel locations prior to installation. In contrast, wall panels without designations can be installed in any order, directly out of the box. Alternatively, whiteboard wall panels that use splines and mounting trim will require installers to make cuts and modifications to the material prior to the install. While these modifications and requirements may only seem like minor pain points, multiplying these requirements across dozens of walls and panels can quickly amount to hours of additional labor costs.

At Magnatag, we've developed a line of magnetic whiteboard wall panels that streamline the installation process to make it fast, simple, and secure while maintaining a durable writing surface. Our line of WhiteWall^® dry-erase wall panels utilize a patented mounting bracket system that can be installed in a matter of minutes with the help of a power drill, level, and a few additional hands. All that's required for installation is to mount the brackets onto the wall and slide panels into their designated position—it's that simple. Since WhiteWall panels are designed with precision-formed self-edges, you can create a smooth, uninterrupted writing surface without the need to specify end panels or modify mounting brackets. We also manufacture WhiteWalls using our proprietary porcelain-like Magnalux^® dry-erase surface. Magnalux is a painted enamel surface is evenly applied to steel that will not stain, crack or fade after years of daily use.

Before you start looking into turning your wall into a whiteboard, it's important to be mindful of the two primary elements that go into a successful whiteboard wall transformation: ease of installation and durability. While cost-effective, DIY whiteboard wall transformations can take hours to prep and fail to provide the long-lasting durability found in commercial whiteboard wall panels. Commercial-grade whiteboard wall panels that rely on splines and mounting trim can take hours to install, and in turn, increase labor costs. Magnatag WhiteWall magnetic dry-erase whiteboard wall panels combine the best properties of commercial whiteboard wall panels with a simple installation process that you can complete in minutes. If you're in the market to transform your wall into a creative hotspot, Magnatag is the best place to start your journey.

Ask any small business owner what the most trying part of managing a company is, and they’ll likely tell you the same story: it doesn’t take a genius to scale a business to the point where it warrants existing, but generating enough growth to ensure that the company remains stable and profitable for years to come is an obstacle few overcome.

It’s estimated that somewhere around 65% of all small businesses in the U.S. close within their first ten years of operation. Of course, there are thousands of companies across the county that remain stable and profitable well beyond the ten-year mark. So what’s the secret that’s kept the remaining 45% afloat? “We focus on feedback,” says Jen Moon, Marketing Manager at Kaput Products. Kaput recently celebrated their 20th year in the pest control industry and continue to show signs of growth after two decades of operation.

The company’s business model runs through a diverse network of distributors and dealers that serve a specific territory. Customers looking to take care of a pest infestation must go directly through their local dealer to acquire any of Kaput’s products. If there’s no local dealer available, aspiring pest-exterminators in the making are encouraged to reach out to the company directly, highlighting potential gaps in the company’s distribution model. New territories are added to their distribution map regularly thanks to contributions from their traveling sales team and user feedback loop.

Part of Jen’s responsibilities at Kaput involve tracking, managing, and updating the company’s regional map as it evolves throughout the business year. Up until a few months ago, the entirety of the company’s distribution and travel data was only logged online, which was fine. Kaput’s database was still regularly updated, sales team members were still visiting new prospects, and the company was still discovering new territorial expansion opportunities; the only issue was that the software wasn’t easily accessible for quick reference points. “If I want to look something up as a quick reference, I want it to be easy to access,” Jen explained.

A few months ago, Jen reached out to the team at Magnatag Visible Systems to find an easy to access tool for managing Kaput’s territorial map. The solution: a large format, full color, magnetic dry-erase map of the United States. Standing eight feet wide and over five feet tall, the map is designed to outline individual cities and their corresponding counties, making it the perfect tool for identifying gaps in Kaput’s distribution strategy.

“We ordered our map alongside some of the colored magnets to use for marking territories for our dealers and distributors. We use one color to mark the distributors that currently carry our baits and another color to represent potential dealers… We also use a separate color to identify pests that are commonly associated with a specific location. Using this as a big picture, I can fill in the gaps in our marketing program as needed.”

Today, Jen and the rest of the Kaput team use the digital software and physical dry-erase map in tandem, with each tool serving its own purpose; the software logs and archives their regional dealer information while the map visualizes opportunities in their distribution network at a glance.

For over fifty years, Magnatag Visible Systems has developed high-quality printed magnetic dry-erase boards. If you’re looking to bring a personal and motivational approach to your project management strategy, contact us at sales@magnatag.com or give us a call at (800) 624-4154.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a city in the US with a deeper connection to its historical roots than St. Augustine, Florida. The city holds the honor of being the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States, and it shows: just taking a stroll down one of the city’s many cobblestone streets invokes the type of old town, coastal-colonial that feels as if you just stepped off a time machine.

Preserving this moment in time would be impossible if not for the help of the city’s extensive zoning regulations and efforts. The plans are designed to preserve the historic character of many buildings in the area through a series of compliance checks that are regulated via the city’s historic preservation board. Due to the intricate nature of many of the board’s regulations, the city regularly pulls from a select pool of contractors that are familiar with Architectural Guidelines for Historic Preservation (AGHP) when undertaking new restoration projects.

For local contractor Behst Builders Inc, historic preservation is embedded in the company’s DNA. Prior to opening Behst, Owner, Jon Benoit spent years working as a project manager for a non-profit housing development corporation that specialized in rehabilitating single-family homes within historic neighborhoods. Thanks to his expertise with historic renovations, the contractor is now recognized as one of the city’s go-to resources for historical projects. However, Jon can’t take all the credit for the company’s success: Carey Murphy keeps the business running by filling the vital role as the company’s Office Manager.

A few months ago, Carey reached out to the team at Magnatag Visible Systems^® when Behst’s online project management software failed to meet their needs. After scouring the web for a project management system that could propitiate everyone on staff, Carey discovered Magnatag’s Project StepTracker^® Magnetic Whiteboard System and quickly incorporated it into their internal communication strategy.

The whiteboard system is designed to list active projects vertically along the left side of the board, with individual project milestones adjacent to each project. Once a specific construction phase is complete, the designated Project Manager takes one of the system’s double-sided magnets and places it below the completed project milestone, communicating that the team is ready to move on to the next phase of construction. In addition, the company also uses the board’s notes section to highlight and sign off on any extra expenses that may arise during a project’s development. If an additional expense is needed, Project Managers are required to make a note of it on the board, which Jon approves in between shifts.

“We were looking for something that our team could use as a focal point for discussing projects; the StepTracker^® whiteboard is the perfect tool for us. When you work in an office where people are constantly juggling their time between being on location and in the office, it’s essential to have a space in your building that’s strictly dedicated to discussing project developments. Having something that you can walk to and manually update should be a standard for anyone in the construction industry,” notes Carey.

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If you’re looking to rethink how your company develops and tracks projects, please visit magnatag.com/project or give us a call at 800 624 4154.

If you’ve spent a considerable amount of time interacting with whiteboards, you might have noticed that not every whiteboard is created equally. In fact, there are a few dry-erase surfaces that don’t possess any magnetic properties whatsoever. As bizarre as it may seem, non-magnetic whiteboards do exist for a reason, and that reason is to cut costs.

Non-magnetic whiteboards are typically manufactured using one of two primary materials: medium-density fiberboard (otherwise known as MDF), or particleboard. Both MDF and particleboard are both pressed wood products, with MDF comprising primarily of pressed wood fibers vs. particleboard’s sawdust composition. Chances are you’ve run into both materials when shopping for affordable cabinetry and out-of-the-box furniture. Neither material is going to break the bank for manufacturers, which in turn makes it the perfect solution for those that need a cost-effective dry-erase board.

The board’s actual dry-erase properties come from the melamine surface that lines the front of the pressed board. Melamine is an organic compound that, when combined with formaldehyde, forms a resin/plastic with dry-erase properties. Virtually all non-magnetic whiteboards rely on melamine for their dry-erase capabilities, and oftentimes this material is added after the wood board has already been pressed.

With that being said, there is a chance your whiteboard isn’t magnetic and also isn’t made with melamine. If that’s the case, then you’re most likely using a board made of paper and film laminate. A good indication of whether or not you have either a laminate or melamine board is whether or not your board has custom print. Melamine boards are always plain white, while paper and laminate boards can accept custom prints. Regardless of this distinction, paper and laminate boards are still assembled in a similar manner as melamine boards.

“Great to know, but that still doesn’t explain why some whiteboards aren’t magnetic!”

To explain why your whiteboard isn’t magnetic, we need to take a look at how magnetic dry-erase boards are made. Most traditional magnetic whiteboards are backed with a steel sheet to provide even magnetism across the surface of the whiteboard. Additionally, porcelain and painted-steel whiteboards have the added benefit of being fired directly onto a steel surface, making the surface itself both magnetic and erasable.

Since melamine/paper and laminate boards do not have any sort of steel backing or face, they consequently lack magnetism. So to put it simply: if your whiteboard isn’t made with a steel back or porcelain face, it’s not magnetic.

Need to find a magnetic whiteboard? Magnatag is home to the internet’s most extensive collection of magnetic dry-erase boards.

While no two whiteboards are precisely the same, the same can't always be said for the equipment that keeps them hanging from the wall. Regardless of the manufacturer, many of the industry's most popular whiteboards pull from a small pool of hardware options when it comes to equipping their dry-erase boards with mounting tools. Now regardless of which mounting hardware a manufacturer chooses to use, a few tools will be standard across the board: and those are plastic wall anchors and Philips-head screws. The plastic wall anchors are great to use when you want to hang your whiteboard in an area where studs aren't available but based off our own experience, we recommend using them in all situations— with studs or without. A good general rule of thumb to go by is to use one piece of mounting hardware per horizontal feet of the markerboard in question. So, for example, an 8' x 4' whiteboard would need to have at least four pieces of hardware securing the top of the board to the wall.

But before you can even think about hardware, you need to have a proper set of tools to get the job done. In addition to what's included with your mounting hardware, we recommend having a drill, hammer, and laser level by your side—they'll be useful in just about every mounting scenario you encounter. Below we'll break down a few of the most common mounting configurations and what you'll need to get your whiteboard out of the box and onto the wall.

L-Clips

L-Clips (sometimes referred to as L-brackets or mirror mounting clips) are one of the most common pieces of hardware you'll find accompanying a standard whiteboard. L-clips are positioned at both the top and the bottom of the whiteboard and anchor directly to the wall while simultaneously hugging the outer frame. The bottom L-clips serve as a shelf for the whiteboard to sit on, with the majority of the board's support coming from the hardware at the top of the frame. For more information regarding l-clip mounting brackets, check out our step-by-step setup guide below.

Note: Before getting started with whiteboard installation, you'll need to measure where you want your whiteboard to sit. While someone holds the board mark both the bottom and top of the frame using a pen or pencil.

1. Align the brackets so that the bend in the clip is resting along the laser sight and mark your anchor point using the clip's alignment slots (for the bottom clips, the longer edge of the clip should point up and vice versa for the top clips.)
2. Using a 1" drill bit, drill one hole per every alignment mark from step 1.
3. Lightly hammer the plastic wall anchors into the pre-drilled holes.
4. Using a screwdriver or drill, attach the L-clips to the wall using the anchor points you installed in step 3.
5. Slide the whiteboard into place to ensure it fits snugly within the top and bottom rows of hardware.
6. Using a drill, screw the top and bottom clips into the frame using self-tapping screws.

Z-Clips

Z-clips are primarily used for installations where the design calls for a whiteboard to hang flush to the wall. As an added bonus, mounting hardware remains hidden in all Z-clip installs since everything can be finished without screwing into the face of the panel. The brackets are generally located at the top of the whiteboard and slide into place using an interlocking hanging mechanism. You may even recognize the Z-clip hardware from Magnatag's line of VisuGlass^™ Magnetic Glass Markerboards. Most markerboard manufacturers that rely on- Z-clips will ship their whiteboards the mounting hardware already attached to the back of the board. In the case that your whiteboard doesn't have clips attached, check with the manufacturer before installing anything to the back of the board. For more information on how to install a whiteboard using Z-clips, check out the guide below.

1. Locate and mark wall studs (or install wall anchors if necessary)
2. Mark wall at the desired top edge of glass board
3. Mark studs 1-5/8" below top edge mark for Z-clips
4. Confirm that your wall markings are level
5. Using a Drill, fasten Z-clips to the marked wall studs using hardware appropriate for your wall type
6. With the help of one or two others, lift board and engage the top edge of the board hardware into the wall brackets.
7. Gently lower board to wall and affirm that the wall-mounted z-clips are correctly engaged with the back of the board.

Safety Hooks

Safety hooks should be a familiar installation technique for anyone that’s been around a standard picture frame within the past decade. All you have to do is mount a pair of hooks to the wall and hang the whiteboard using the board’s attached hangers. Safety hooks are one of the easiest installs you’ll come across on your whiteboard mounting journey, and thanks to the tried and true hook and hanger design, it’s also one of the most reliable mounting methods for those living in an earthquake-friendly zone. If your whiteboard doesn’t come pre-equipped with a set of hangers, you’ll either need to purchase and install the hardware before mounting or look at other mounting options. For information on safety-hook installs, check out our step-by-step instructions below.

1. Measure the spacing of the board hangers on the back of the board (standard 16" on center spacing). Mark wall at desired height and measured hanger spacing.
2. Fasten the safety hooks to the wall using selected fasteners.
3. Engage the pre-installed hangers on the back of the board securely onto the safety hooks.

FrameKlamp^™ Mounting Brackets

FrameKlamp is the exclusive mounting bracket from our team at Magnatag Visible Systems. Installing a whiteboard with FrameKlamp mounting brackets can be done in seconds thanks to the patented, re-adjustable, locking brackets. Much like Z-clips, FrameKlamps ensure that your whiteboard remains flush to the wall without the need for any front-facing modifications. However, what sets FrameKlamps apart from Z-clips is the hardware's added flexibility post-installation. Say you wish your whiteboard was positioned to the left or right of where you initially placed it; rather than having to remove the board entirely from the wall and reinstall the mounting hardware, FrameKlamps allow you to simply lift the locking mechanism and slide the board to your desired location. As a rule of thumb, we recommend using three FrameKlamps for boards that are 4’ x 6’ or smaller, and five for larger boards. For more information on how to install a whiteboard using FrameKlamps, check out the guide below.

1. Using a level, mark wall at desired height for top edge of your board and at appropriate wall stud locations for FrameKlamps.
2. Fasten FrameKlamps at marked locations using screws appropriate for your wall type.
3. With FrameKlamps in vertical (unlocked) position, install board over FrameKlamps.
4. Slide board left or right, if necessary, for best location, then pivot FrameKlamps into locked position.

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Have any more questions regarding how to properly mount your whiteboard or what tools you may need? Feel free to shoot us an email at info@magnatag.com