How are leading tech firm responding to their workplace challenges? That’s a question that HOK, the global design firm, examines in “HOK Forward: Tech Workplace Takes Center Stage,” an 83-page report based on input from the firm’s Workplace leadership and global delivery network partners.
As part of its research to identify best practices, HOK’s team interviewed a who’s who of end-user tech companies, including Cisco Systems, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, Spotify USA, and T-Mobile.
One of the report’s observations is that tech is now all-pervasive in the workplace. “We are quickly evolving toward an era in which tech is not just a discrete sector but a foundational element of all businesses,” the report states. ”More and more companies are considering themselves ‘tech’ companies regardless of the sector they are in.”
The report notes that as tech companies expand into traditional industries, they often have a competitive advantage because they fall outside the purview of state and federal regulations. However, that regulatory climate is changing, as options for nascent technologies are defined and sometimes restricted, and bigness is no longer seen as an unassailable virtue.
The HOK report, based on input from the firm's Workplace leadership and global delivery partners, portrays a tech industry that is weighing all kinds of factors that might enhance the user experience. (Click for larger image) Image: HOK Forward report
There is also the question of whether technology is, inadvertently, accelerating the expected obsolescence of businesses. Globally, the average life expectancy of a company is less than 20 years. Up to 80% of today’s businesses may not exist in 10 years, states the report.
On top of—or, perhaps, because of—that churn, nearly half of all global employers are struggling to fill positions. Consequently, Tech employers are enticing professionals to join their organizations from other sectors. “To ensure that their people remain valuable, productive and engaged, tech employers must adopt retraining and redeployment strategies,” the report states.
In this high growth sector, HOK’s survey portrays an industry whose companies tend to lease in urban environments. These companies continue to increase their headcounts, but envision accommodating more people within their existing footprint before deciding to expand. More than two-fifths (43%) of companies polled prefer to have employees on-site, and are designing their environments to encourage synergy, ideation, and speed to market.
The right mix of amenities is critical to creating a workplace that foments innovation and productivity. Image: HOK Forward report
The cost of real estate—the cost per sf for tech office space ranges from $80 to $300, and averages around $190—and time spent at the office continue to be the most important factors influencing workspace allocation. These companies’ top priorities include enhancing the employee experience and creating flexible spaces.
While tech companies insist that they value sustainable design, 87% said they wouldn’t seek formal LEED certification for their workplaces, and—here’s a stunner—92% did not intend to seek formal WELL certification for workplace wellness.
That being said, amenities are evolving: Companies looking to attract and retain top talent now offer everything from nap pods and wellness rooms to medical clinics and maker spaces.
“Smart“ workspaces, tracked by networks of sensors, are increasing, too, as designers and clients continue to learn how to leverage data in order to optimize and right-size space that reflects the company’s culture, work style, mobility profiles, and business goals.
The report provides a wealth of case studies that illustrate many of its findings. It also offers readers a list of “priority actions” that revolve around flexibility, employment empowerment, training, and “leveraging the contingent workforce.”
The report predicts that the next generation of high-performance tech workplaces will function as engagement centers and dynamic hubs where people gather, connect and innovate.
Some of the key office metrics, gleaned from interviews with leading tech companies. Image: HOK Forward report
“By focusing on human-centric metrics and thinking outside the box, we can create resilient tech workplaces that adapt to whatever the future may bring. We need to design this next- generation workspace with courage if we want to keep pace and truly transform the work experience.”
The report recommends 10 “focus areas” for growth-minded tech companies. They must create a “curated” workplace that emphasize innovation, amenities, and occupant wellbeing, which includes giving workers greater control over their work environments.
Companies should also be looking beyond sustainability—and toward net-zero energy and water, biophilia, and human health. They should also be using sensors more to gather data in order to track employee patterns and preferences.
HOK’s report advocates that companies rethink the suburban campus of the past and move toward a “new urban model” that emphasizes “blended, mixed-use environments that are revitalizing urban zones and catering to neo-urbanites.
The conundrum of this recommendation, however, is that building offices in urban centers is challenging and expensive. In addition, while the population migration to cities is “unprecedented,” a big portion of the middle class—“the bedrock of a city’s workforce,” acknowledges the report—continues to relocate to the suburbs, “posing additional challenges for urban locations that aspire to serve as thriving work centers.”
Related Stories
| Jul 21, 2014
Workplace trends survey reveals generational patterns in office use
Data analysis from Mancini•Duffy indicates significant variations among age cohorts in the workplace.
| Jul 20, 2014
Why every major U.S. city should be nurturing ‘Innovation Hubs’
Today, more than ever, tech districts are the key to economic growth for metro markets. A new report from the Brookings Institution calls tech hubs the superchargers of innovation economies and creators of highly coveted tech jobs.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.