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Spaces that attract, retain and support talent
A well-designed office which caters for people's needs makes staff feel part of a team rather than part of the furniture. A tangible expression of care for people can significantly enhance a company's success in recruiting and retaining the best talent.
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Want to know more about what office design can do to
help business to attract and retain talent? Read our
feature article Talent Wars
An office with a heart
Incorporating a large central 'plaza' into an office can foster a sense of shared identity and belonging among staff. As well as being natural venues for informal meetins, brainstorming sessions and leisure activities, these 'town hall' spaces lend themselves easily to hosting presentations, events and product displays. They are also especially effective locations for supergraphic expressions of corporate values and identity.
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See the concept in practice in the Nokia Beijing campus
Building a 'creative community'
Space requirements alone can make a central plaza impractical for many offices - but many of its functions can still be designed into smaller workplaces. Features like break-out areas, pantries and staff lounges, for example, act as natural drawing points for staff to socialise, exchange ideas, and build teams. Psychologically, an increase in common office space can also counterbalance a reduction in 'private' space.
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Changing generations means changing workstyles. See
how Ogilvy & Mather Kuala Lumpur fosters creativity
with informal collaboration zones
Brand connections
Brand values all translate well to workplace features like staff pantries/ break-out areas, games rooms, open-plan work areas, and a sustainable work environment. 'Green walls', supergraphics and art installations can also help connect people, company and values whilst providing a welcome source of visual stimulation.
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See how SmarTone brought the brand to life for their call
centre team in Guangzhou, China
Work-life balance
'Social' spaces at work have taken on added importance as people today spend more time in the office and less at home. As well as pantries, break-out areas and staff lounges, offices can be designed with amenities that bring some of the 'comforts of home' into the workplace: features like staff recreation/gym rooms or, when appropriate, shops, cafes, laundries and nurseries can aid in team-building whilst doing much to restore a healthy 'work-life balance'.
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View a gallery of designs that bring lifestyle to workstyle
Effective for generations
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in America: workers aged 25-34 dropped by approximately 9% between 1996-2006, while workers aged 45-65 rose by 40%. The needs of this multigenerational workforce can have a considerable impact on an office’s design. For example, lighting may be adjusted for older individuals, and a mix of assigned and non-assigned workstations can cater to both static and mobile working styles.
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Flexible work habits
When people work can be as important as where they work in maintaining a healthy 'work-life balance'. In a 2010 survey by Microsoft Telework, 60 percent of 3,600 employees surveyed said they were more productive when enabled to work remotely. Another survey for Telus found that 56 percent of employees working under flexible arrangements are more motivated than under their previous rigid schedules. Increasingly, employers are responding by offering alternate schedules, telecommuting options, compressed workweeks, summer hours, job sharing, and sabbaticals.
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Read how flexible work styles influenced office design
BP in Singapore
Mobility: Productivity on the go
If it is possible and appropriate for some employees to work away from the office, the office itself can shrink – or devote more space to purposes other than staff seating. For staff members, being empowered to choose where (and in some circumstances, when) they work can help them better organise their time and develop a mutually trusting relationship with their employers.
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Moving people, not desks
Technologies such as Wi-Fi and schemes like desk-sharing, hotelling and hot-desking can make it easier for individuals or teams to work where they are actually needed – and ‘hit the ground running’ when they arrive. Mobility-based desking schemes can at the same time reduce the total number of workstations required in an office.
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Free range working
In-office mobility can be made more seamless with the use of RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) tags to track objects, people and information. Staff members could carry everything from their work files to personal software settings in a small RFID tag, eliminating the need to be 'chained' to a single workstation.
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Indoor environmental quality
Productivity is often directly linked to temperature, humidity, odours and fumes in the workplace. Many of these issues can be addressed by properly integrating a multi-zone HVAC system into the workplace. Air quality can be further improved by minimising the use of materials, paints and equipment known to emit harmful chemical pollutants.
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See how Principal Global Investors created a healthier
New York office
Sustainability that goes beyond ‘green’
Sustainable design has matured beyond merely specifying ‘green’ materials and getting by with less. Today it can mean getting more from less space, material and energy. It means a healthier, more productive, attractive, and ultimately more effective workplace.
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See the story of Jones Lang LaSalle’s LEED Platinum-rated
Hong Kong office
Natural light, naturally right
Exploiting natural light can improve an office’s environmental quality whilst reducing its carbon footprint. Low-e glass - a type of specially coated and insulated glazing - allows natural light in whilst keeping unwanted heat out. Simple features like manual or automatic window blinds can also aid in maintaining a tolerable balance of temperature and light. In some cases, 'light boxes' can be used to capture and evenly distribute natural light across the ceiling.
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Read all about light in the workplace in our feature article:
Lighting: How it matters
Tricks of the light
Sunlight can never entirely displace artificial lighting in an office setting. However, a balance between energy efficiency and effective lighting can still be achieved by using technologies like LED. Coloured LEDs can also be used creatively to complement architecture and ‘brand’ a space.
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Technology replacing travel
Videoconferencing technology can simultaneously enhance a business’s effectiveness and reduce its carbon footprint. By supplanting business travel with videoconferencing, companies can reduce expenses and the productive hours otherwise lost en route between meetings. The ‘Halo’ room – a highly developed form of videoconferencing – even uses multiple screens and eye-level cameras to allow meeting participants to engage in face-to-face conversation in real time.
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New uses for existing spaces
Adaptively re-using materials, furnishings, spaces and buildings for new
purposes is a popular
and effective way to reduce carbon footprints and
environmental impact. Even spaces originally
created for very different
purposes can be feasible for conversion into offices.
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Read how Halcrow transformed a historic London building
into a headquarters for the 21st century
Open to ideas, efficiency & flexibility
Open-plan architecture lends itself to a fluid, collaborative way of work. Offering minimal obstructions to direct visual and vocal communication, these spaces usually don’t require the complex lighting and ventilation systems needed for ‘cellularised’ workplaces. Their inherent flexibility also allows for adjacencies and space allocations to be easily adjusted as needed.
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A workplace for any activity
An ‘activity-based’ workplace uses mobile and portable technologies within a flexible environment to enable people to choose their work settings based on their needs and activities. As well as enhancing the effectiveness of staff, activity-based workplaces can also achieve significant savings in terms of energy consumption and expenditure on space.
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Seamless change via modularity
Open-plan architecture is not necessarily modular, but the qualities needed for effective modularity (including consistent mullion and column spacing, distribution of electrical and data services, lighting and heating/ventilation) can be more easily utilised within an open-plan. The result is a workplace that lends itself more readily to changing needs: Workstations and even layouts can be altered, upgraded, enlarged or reduced with a minimum of expense.
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Instant adaptability
Specific areas within an open-plan space can be easily adapted for hosting a diverse range of meetings and functions. The introduction of removable sliding partitions can ensure optimum flexibility by enabling these areas to be quickly expanded and/or reconfigured with minimal fuss.
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See a range of flexible spaces in this gallery of office
designs
Islands of quiet
All offices must balance people’s need for interaction and the need for privacy and quiet. This is especially true in open-plan environments. Thus, to facilitate such activities as confidential conference calls, one-on-one conversations, or concentrated 'heads down' work, individual quiet rooms should be conveniently located within the workplace for use by all staff.
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Read about how quiet spaces were incorporated into Nokia
Siemens Network's office in Delhi
Room to think
Another specialised space that can be incorporated into a larger open plan is the ‘think tank’, a cocoon-like meeting room designed to be inspiring. Encapsulated from the external distractions of routine office activities, think tank users are left free to focus and use their creativity. Tools such as white and smart boards, AV devices and connectivity tech ensure that nothing inhibits the flow of new ideas generated within.
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Points for discussion
The entire office can be designed to harness the ‘think tank’ effect. Providing natural 'gathering points' along circulation routes encourages staff members to meet and interact on the spur of the moment. Installing bar-like tables and/or whiteboards around structural columns can transform otherwise obstructive architectural features into focal points where staff can share ideas.
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See how collaboration is designed into Ogilvy & Mather's
office in Jakarta
Integrated Project Delivery
Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is an approach which enables workplaces to be conceived, designed and executed as holistic ‘total solutions’ from a single source of expertise. The potential benefits include time- and cost-efficiency, effective project control, and an end-product of higher quality and immediate effectiveness. IPD also enables the client to remain at the centre of the entire development and execution process, ensuring the integrity of the end-result.
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Giving due diligence its due
A due diligence report can be more than a vital source of hard data on potential office spaces: engaging the design team into this pre-lease phase of a project can lead to a more effective end-product. Using due diligence data, the project team can evaluate the condition of base buildings, sizes and shapes of floor plates, infrastructure and other characteristics relative to client needs. The space eventually selected can serve as the ideal starting point for a design that meets the end-user’s needs.
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Designing buildings from the Inside-out
When entirely new workplaces are called for, taking an 'Inside-out' approach to architecture can ensure that they are designed to support rather than inhibit the businesses using them. With this approach, design 'radiates' outward from the core goals, needs and technical requirements of its users. The result is holistic, highly integrated buildings which provide optimal functionality and make a distinctive architectural statement of its users' identity, purpose and values.
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Read more about ‘growing’ architecture around business
needs in our Inside-out feature
Revolution in three dimensions
Three-dimensional modeling allows office and/or building designs to be fully 'experienced' before they leave the drawing board. Using a 'virtual mock-up', the design team and client can readily identify areas for improvement or correction, and even assess solutions which respond to different needs and budgets. The result is spaces that work from ‘day one’ and require little alteration.
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Collaboration without boundaries
Technologies like 3D modelling and videoconferencing allow everybody involved in a project – from the design team to contractors to client – to contribute together. As well as helping to resolve potential design and engineering conflicts well before construction begins, continuous collaboration ensures that all participants are ‘on the same page’ throughout the project.
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On-site, wherever you are
Wi-fi connectivity and portable communications/computing devices have made it possible to eliminate the gap between the design office and project site. Design and engineering decisions can now be shared almost as soon as they are made. The benefits are more effective project management, streamlined problem-solving, and a final product uncompromised by flawed execution.
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Easing change through communication
Change in the workplace is far more likely to succeed if staff are kept fully informed of the reasons and its possible effects on their daily routines. Effective change communication can be most easily achieved through staff interviews, observation studies and workshops. The feedback from such activities can be used to generate design ideas.
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