Today’s Work Environment
The modern office malaise
Companies spend enormous amounts of money on shiny new iconic offices, but their staff don’t appreciate the considerable investment and companies wonder why. Modern open plan office interiors have become grey soulless environments where space optimisation is the key factor in layout and design. In these environments, people feel debilitated, under valued and the result is disaffected staff. Open-plan working has dehumanised the office worker. Space is no longer personal and staff often, feel exposed and unable to relate to their work space. As a result, teamwork and staff morale decline. Open-plan working is considered the most efficient arrangement, but it ignores the fact that people with a variety of different needs are not best suited to sitting and working in this inflexible way. For a company to work efficiently and productively, its staff need face to face communications and yet open-plan working does not allow this without creating disruption and distractions for other staff. Open-plan working creates contradictions.
To work efficiently, you need quiet but in a large groups noise and distraction is a constant issue. In a typical day, an office worker will need a variety of different work conditions, allowing quiet concentration, group discussions, telephone conversations, thinking time, brainstorming, relaxed discussions with colleagues and many other different scenarios. This is a modern problem and this is not an issue of design style.
Changing the colour of the walls or adding plants will not create an environment which is suited to efficient and productive working. Companies need a new vision of future working that values staff, creates alternative and stimulating work places and that makes work exciting and enjoyable again. The modern open-plan office environment is no longer the only appropriate answer, as technology has set us free. We do not need to be desk bound. We can now find new ways to improve our lives and to work more efficiently and productively.
Humanising the office
In order to empower staff, it is important to treat them as a valuable asset and provide them with an interesting and varied work environment to suit their mood and their changing working requirements throughout the day. Humans are social animals and it is essential that staff are allowed the opportunity to interact with each other in a comfortable social environment within the office. Stimulating interiors create a sense of pride, staff have a sense of unity and self worth. By redesigning the office landscape and creating a variety of work and social spaces staff are re-engaged with their work and are able to fulfill their potential.
Opportunity
As you move away from the rigid outdated style of office planning, grasping the freedoms presented by new technologies, opportunities and possibilities are revealed. The corporate environment is no longer the workroom hidden from public gaze, but the public embodiment of the brand identity. The office interior can now embrace the essence of the corporate brand and provide a seamless brand environment designed to invigorate staff and represent the aims and ambitions of the company.
The complete solution
Too often, the brand identity of a company is seen only as the two dimensional representation of the identity of a brand, the company logo and perhaps the corporate colours. But a brand can be much more than this. A successful company recognises the importance of its staff, and understand that they will successfully deliver the company brand message. Happy and loyal staff, most powerfully deliver a brand’s message and it is therefore obvious that treating staff well and of value will reap rewards.
We have been working with companies for many years to successfully develop a 3D brand representation of their aims and aspirations to create an environment, which reflects their brand, attracts their customers and empowers their staff. The creation of brand architecture is not sector specific and is as relevant for restaurants, clubs, hotels and schools as it is for offices. Many companies mistakenly believe that successful branding stops at snappy graphic representation and they fail to recognise the powerful importance of their staff and their office environment in getting their brand message to the world.
The way forward
The problems experienced by most large scale companies with low staff morale and low productivity can all be solved by redesigning the office interiors. The key is to recognise that the staff do not respond well to working in an open plan environment and understand that it is demonstrable that they will respond well to a stimulating and welcoming environment. For our clients, we will create a bespoke interior that is space efficient, but not tied entirely to an open plan desk arrangement. The interior will allow staff to choose where and how they will work. It will be comfortable and will provide a social environment where staff can interact with each other and fulfil their full potential.
We will incorporate the aims, aspirations and brand values into the design of the new interior through detailed discussions with key staff members. The resulting interior will inspire and engage the staff, creating a welcoming environment for staff and visitors, which will be a paradigm for the future of offices.