The present disclosure describes techniques for facilitating a collaborative work environment. The techniques comprise creating at least one virtual room accessible by the plurality of users, wherein at least one subset of users are associated with the at least one virtual room, the at least one virtual room enables real-time communications among the at least one subset of users, and the at least one subset of users communicate with each other in the at least one virtual room through a first communication channel; receiving a request from a first user to communicate with at least a second user separately from the first communication channel; and establishing a first sub-communication channel between the first user and the at least a second user while the first communication channel remains accessible to the first user and the at least a second user.