What can companies be doing better to ensure that their workplaces provide the healthiest and most efficient environments for multigenerational employees who might have widely differing attitudes and approaches toward technology and collaboration?
That’s the primary question that Jodi Williams, senior workplace specialist for the architectural firm RTKL, poses in a white paper titled “2015 Trends in the Workplace.”
“Too often, clear and compelling business strategies fail to translate into the real environment,” Williams writes. “It’s partly about recruitment and retention—providing inviting, comfortable work environments that reinforce values and make employees feel like a part of a larger mission.”
Drawing from a range of source material, Williams identifies five trends that could improve employees’ job satisfaction and productivity, and a company’s profitability.
1. Wellbeing, not just Wellness
The average American sits 7.7 hours per day. Being sedentary for that long over a prolonged period of time has negative impacts on a person’s weight gain, which in turn makes a person more vulnerable to heart disease, brain function issues, leg disorders, and even more serious health problems.
While they are working, employees usually don’t get much exposure to natural light or the outdoors, either, even as studies show that access to both can make an employee more productive and less prone to absenteeism.
“Focusing on wellness is not enough,” claims Williams. The workplace itself needs to promote physical health as well as mental and social wellbeing that includes opportunities to engage in spontaneous encounters, freedom to move between social phases, opportunities for regular exercise, noise levels similar to those in nature, and meaningful change and sensory variability.
Designing a psychologically healthy workplace includes providing places of refuge. There should be a focus on culture and emphasis on professional and social interaction. The workplace should also offer views of the outdoors, and “regenerative” spaces indoors with views of plants, nature, fish, or fire.
Williams suggests that companies interested in workplace wellbeing would benefit from exploring Delos Building Wellness’ WELL Building Standard—a first-of-its-kind protocol for establishing human wellness within the built environment.
2. Staunching the Baby Boomer Retirement Tsunami
Workplaces are more diverse than ever, with as many as five generations working together in some companies. While that mixture is generally good news for companies, it can also create organizational and management friction, to say nothing of the disruption being caused by 10,000 Americans turning 65 years old every day.
Older Americans are choosing to postpone retirement, or at the very least work part time. And a growing number of companies, in an effort to persuade older workers to stay on longer, are extending their mandatory retirement ages, some to age 75. But companies must also face the reality that older workers are going to step aside at some point. So what are these companies doing to retain and cultivate their best younger talent?
“The workplace environment does matter when employees select a position,” Williams says. Companies need to consider what type of talent they are trying to attract and what types of spaces will help draw these people in and keep them in the organization.
Williams notes that companies are now making human resource decisions that accommodate multiple generations. That means addressing such issues as workplace ergonomics, technology, mentoring and knowledge transference, and how different generations prefer to collaborate.
She says that younger generations prefer workplaces that support knowledge. It is also important for companies to create flexibility for a varying workforce that might include more part-time workers and consultants. “We expect to see more hoteling type scenarios,” Williams predicts.
3. Having Enough Space to Collaborate
Collaboration, writes Williams, “continues to be a key emphasis for workplace design.” But companies need to decide what kind of collaboration works best for them and their employees. Architects and designers, therefore, must gain a better understanding of their clients’ organizational structures, particularly the role that meetings play in their business functions, to design offices with sufficient and large-enough meeting spaces as not to impede the collaborative and creative processes.
4. Connecting through Technology
At a time when more people work from home or remotely from a company’s offices, technology enables collaboration. But mobility isn’t always as simple as it looks. Williams notes that many companies still struggle with providing pervasive Wi-Fi; with digital security; and with providing tools that support in-person or online collaboration.
“Mobility is about more than just BYOD [bring your own device],” writes Williams. And real technology flexibility is going to impact an office’s design, furniture, software, and device selection, as well as workflow and remote accessibility.
5. Working Everywhere and Nowhere
Worker mobility is causing companies to rethink what kind of real estate they require, and whether long-term investments in leases or ownership are cost effective anymore.
Williams identifies options that companies now have at their disposal, such as “serviced offices” with short-term leases for smaller work groups; “speculative suites” within existing offices that can be up to 10,000 sf; and subleases of ready-to-use offices within buildings.
Williams points to “coworking” facilities that offer a variety of workspaces and basic supplies, designed to attract a mix of individuals for specific periods of time. These kinds of office situations are set up, she says, to create “synergistic” communities that bring together people from various backgrounds.
There’s also “Liquid Space,” an online company that enables its members to locate and book workplaces when they need them. (On its website, Liquid Space offers options for small and large meeting rooms, training rooms, price offices, open desks, coworking spaces, “touchdown” spaces, team spaces, and hotel meeting spaces. All of which are leasable by the hour or day.)
Related Stories
Office Buildings | Dec 6, 2022
‘Chicago’s healthiest office tower’ achieves LEED Gold, WELL Platinum, and WiredScore Platinum
Goettsch Partners (GP) recently completed 320 South Canal, billed as “Chicago’s healthiest office tower,” according to the architecture firm. Located across the street from Chicago Union Station and close to major expressways, the 51-story tower totals 1,740,000 sf. It includes a conference center, fitness center, restaurant, to-go market, branch bank, and a cocktail lounge in an adjacent structure, as well as parking for 324 cars/electric vehicles and 114 bicycles.
Mixed-Use | Dec 6, 2022
Houston developer plans to convert Kevin Roche-designed ConocoPhillips HQ to mixed-use destination
Houston-based Midway, a real estate investment, development, and management firm, plans to redevelop the former ConocoPhillips corporate headquarters site into a mixed-use destination called Watermark District at Woodcreek.
Office Buildings | Dec 5, 2022
How to foster collaboration and inspiration for a workplace culture that does not exist (yet)
A building might not be able to “hack” innovation, but it can create the right conditions to foster connection and innovation, write GBBN's Chad Burke and Zachary Zettler.
Giants 400 | Dec 1, 2022
Top 100 Office Building Core+Shell Contractors and CM Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, AECOM, Clayco, and Gilbane top the ranking of the nation's largest office building core+shell contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 1, 2022
Top 75 Office Building Core+Shell Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, Alfa Tech, Burns & McDonnell, and Arup head the ranking of the nation's largest office building core+shell engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 1, 2022
Top 150 Office Building Core+Shell Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
Gensler, NBBJ, Perkins and Will, and Stantec top the ranking of the nation's largest office building core+shell architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Multifamily Housing | Nov 29, 2022
Number of office-to-apartment conversion projects has jumped since start of pandemic
As remote work rose and demand for office space declined since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, developers have found converting some offices to residential use to be an attractive option. Apartment conversions rose 25% in the two years since the start of the pandemic, with 28,000 new units converted from other property types, according to a report from RentCafe.
Giants 400 | Nov 28, 2022
Top 130 Office Sector Contractors and CM Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, STO Building Group, Gilbane, and CBRE top the ranking of the nation's largest office sector contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Nov 28, 2022
Top 85 Office Sector Engineering and EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, Alfa Tech, AECOM, and Burns & McDonnell head the ranking of the nation's largest office sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Nov 28, 2022
Top 200 Office Sector Architecture and AE Firms for 2022
Gensler, Perkins and Will, Stantec, and HOK top the ranking of the nation's largest office sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.