Does your workplace help you be your best?

There’s been a lot of discussion on social media recently about the merits and drawbacks of open plan working. Harvard Scientists have recently published research on the open plan workplace and it showed that there was less collaboration than in a traditional environment and that people retreated behind screens.

Key figures coming out of the July 2018 study, which admittedly didn’t have a huge survey group, were interesting. They included:

Email activity increased by 67%

Face to face chats dropped by 73%

Instant Messaging rose by 75%.

By 2003, 70% of offices were open plan. By 2016, 43% of Americans said they spent some time every week working remotely. Our working habits have changed and businesses are being slow to catch up with the desires of the workforce for their office space. Employers are offering flexibility and remote working, but not necessarily offering a workplace that enables an employee to be their best. There are, however, some that are getting it right.

Building a strong sense of community has been a key factor in the success of the workspace provider, WeWork. When I was working in Hong Kong a lot, we had office space there and it helped me feel a sense of creativity and freedom, especially important when dealing with acute jetlag! The spaces they provide offer clean spaces, narrow hallways, communal kitchens, quiet areas and often, lunchtime yoga or kickboxing and beer on tap. A little bit like what the adidas Group are doing with their future workplace, myArena…

Have a look at Pitch, the building adidas are using as their testing ground. Certain departments are testing ways of working supplied by three different companies. Employees are working out what works best for the business, which will then be rolled out across the world. It’s an awesome idea, but perhaps not one that many companies would be brave enough to try. But I applaud adidas for what they’re doing. I may be biased, them being an old client and all, but they’re realising the value of their employees, that their people need to come first; that to do great work and to be the best, they need to have a happy, productive workforce and this is their way of doing it.

LEGO too are leading the way with innovative workspaces. Their Danish campus building plan was announced in February 2017, to much excitement. The first employees should be working in it later this year. Part of the build will include ‘People House’, a place where employees can gather in and outside work hours to ‘create a melting pot for the many versions of their LEGO culture’. The new campus should provide a rich diversity of work spaces to suit everyone, much like the adidas Group have planned.