Over two-thirds of office workers in the United States are disengaged from their work. Eight of 10 of those workers are stressed out. So itâs little wonder that U.S. companies struggle to find and retain talent at a time when emerging technologies and co-working trends empower more workers to step off the corporate treadmill and become freelance consultants, a trend that could result in 40% of the U.S. workforce being independently employed by 2020.
These are some of the key findings in Genslerâs âU.S. Workplace Survey 2016,â for which the industryâs largest architectural firm polled over 4,000 American workers in 11 industries using its newly redesigned Workplace Performance Index platform. That platform combines factors that impact user experience to calculate qualitative ratings for physical environments.
This is the 10th year that Gensler has conducted a poll of office workers.
The respondents to the latest survey represented all generations and roles in the workplace, companies of various sizes, and were geographically spread across the country.
Gensler paints a cramped portrait of the American workplace, where smaller desks and less privacy âare the normsâ for many workers. From 2013 to 2016, choice of workspace fell at every level of the organization, even as senior leadership continues to report greater choice than professional or administrative staff.
C-Suite and managerial staff are more likely to see their organizations as innovative, with admin and professional staff expressing the opposite viewpoint. Perhaps not surprisingly, Genslerâs data uncovers a link between the quality and function of a workplace and the level of innovation that employees ascribe to their companies.
Â
The most innovative office environments are those where innovators are spending less time at their desks, according to a new survey conducted by Gensler. Image: âU.S. Workplace Survey 2016.âÂ
Â
For example, it finds that innovators are five times more likely to have workplaces that prioritize both individual and group work.
Innovators have better designed workspaces of all types. They spend less time at their desks, instead collaborating and socializing from conference rooms, open meeting areas, and café spaces. They also spend more time working away from the office entirely, averaging 74% of an average week in the office compared to 86% for respondents with the lowest innovation scores.
Gensler sees better office design as a cure. âWorkplace design prioritizes collaboration,â and reinforces purpose, choice, and equity, the report concludes from its polling data. Gensler observes that innovative companies are also more likely to accept that, thanks to Wi-Fi, âworkspaceâ can extend beyond the office to other meeting places and the outdoors.
Innovative companies, says Gensler, are letting their employees have access to a wider variety of workspaces, and allowing them to work âwherever is best for the task at hand.â This tends to reflect how much companies care about their employeesâ career satisfaction and development. âImprove the workplace, and expand choice and autonomy, across the organization to drive innovation,â Gensler advises.
Â
Innovative workplaces give their employees a positive feeling of accomplishment and purpose. Image: âU.S. Workplace Survey 2016.â
Â
The firm conducted a similar survey of 1,200 office workers in 11 industries in the United Kingdom. It found that the UK workplace âsignificantly favors those in management positions.â Poorly designed and open-plan environments are negatively affecting more than 8 million UK workers. And legacy workplace behavior and lack of choice are drags on performance.
Gensler recommends that UK companies take a more considered approach to the open plan office, where âthe rightâand separateâspaces for individual and collaborate work are key.â It also calls for UK companies to expand workplace variety and choice, and match space to role, not status.
And in Asia, Gensler surveyed more than 2,000 office workers in six major metros. It found that Asian workplaces tend to adopt a common, western narrative, resulting in mostly open-plan workspaces combining workstations, offices, and conference rooms. âThis hand-me-down model of workplace design ⊠may now be holding Asian companies and employees back.â
Related Stories
Sponsored | | Oct 23, 2014
From slots to public safety: Abandoned Detroit casino transformed into LEED-certified public safety headquarters
First constructed as an office for the Internal Revenue Service, the city's new public safety headquarters had more recently served as a temporary home for the MGM Casino. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 23, 2014
China's 'weird' buildings: President Xi Jinping wants no more of them
During a literary symposium in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged architects, authors, actors, and other artists to produce work with "artistic and moral value."
| Oct 22, 2014
Customization is the key in tomorrow's workplace
The importance of mobility, flexibility, and sustainability in the world of corporate design are already well-established. A newer trend thatâs gaining deserved attention is customizability, and how it will look in the coming years, writes GS&P's Leith Oatman.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches âdesign-centricâ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design schoolâs dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a ârapidly urbanizing global economy,â in which cities are building new structures âon a massive scale.âÂ
| Oct 14, 2014
Proven 6-step approach to treating historic windows
This course provides step-by-step prescriptive advice to architects, engineers, and contractors on when it makes sense to repair or rehabilitate existing windows, and when they should advise their building owner clients to consider replacement.Â
| Oct 13, 2014
The mindful workplace: How employees can manage stress at the office
I have spent the last several months writing about healthy workplaces. My research lately has focused on stressâhow we get stressed and ways to manage it through meditation and other mindful practices, writes HOK's Leigh Stringer.
Sponsored | | Oct 13, 2014
CLT, glulam deliver strength, low profile, and aesthetics for B.C. office building
When he set out to design his companyâs new headquarters building on Lakeshore Road in scenic Kelowna, B.C., Tim McLennan of Faction Projects knew quickly that cross-laminated timber was an ideal material.Â
| Oct 12, 2014
AIA 2030 commitment: Five years on, are we any closer to net-zero?
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the American Institute of Architectsâ effort to have architecture firms voluntarily pledge net-zero energy design for all their buildings by 2030.Â
| Oct 9, 2014
Regulations, demand will accelerate revenue from zero energy buildings, according to study
A new study by Navigant Research projects that public- and private-sector efforts to lower the carbon footprint of new and renovated commercial and residential structures will boost the annual revenue generated by commercial and residential zero energy buildings over the next 20 years by 122.5%, to $1.4 trillion.