....help me with my office! (part 2)

Continued from part one-'Help me with my office!'

Bad office layouts are made, not born. An office configuration that suited the way business was done even five years ago might be irrelevant now.

The best way to find out if your office is dysfunctional is to conduct a formal study. Create an “activity portrait,” a drawing of traffic patterns around the office, by shadowing employees for several days in a row.

Goal: Find out what they need up front, and keep them in the loop to avoid backlash.

Involving employees in an office redesign is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s vital to know how they operate in order to create a space that’s more conducive to their work. On the other, asking them what they want can lead to unrealistic demands. As you gather input, be clear that you will try to address all concerns but that no one design can be perfect for everyone....at least mention it.

Once the new design has been chosen, let employees know what to expect, especially if the change will be significant. Make sure employees understand why the company is making each specific change. For example, if you’re moving people out of offices and into cubes, remind staff that the office now offers other perks: a souped-up dining area or benefits like concierge services, showers in bathrooms for lunchtime workouts, or a better cafeteria.

Two types of redesigns create “cultural revolt”: a move from closed-door offices to open office space, and a move in which two companies are merging and creating a new culture. With an office-to-cubes situation, companies need to up the ratio of conference rooms from one conference seat per three people to one conference seat for every two people. With a merger, managers should remind employees of their role’s significance, reassure them that their importance continues, and then offer a rational business context for why they may have to move desks or cede space.

Big Idea...

If the physical environment is bad — it’s cold, smells, or makes workers distracted — then employees won’t work well. No amount of organizational shoe-shining will change that… It’s Maslow’s pyramid — Psychology 101….the hierarchy of human needs as outlined by Abraham Maslow in 1943. According to Maslow, humans seek to satisfy a hierarchy of five types of needs, starting with the most basic physiological needs and ascending through a sense of safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. If workers feel unhealthy they won’t be able to tap their higher selves in the office.

Goal: Make a list of the top priorities you want your redesign to address.

Once you’ve identified your biggest issues, decide which ones you want to attack. I recommend that companies evaluating an office redesign project identify four or five priorities to tackle, such as increased collaboration, improved productivity, or more efficient use of space.

At Group Health, a Washington-based insurer with 10,000 employees in more than 50 buildings, an in-house study quickly illustrated what the company’s design goals should be. The firm enlisted its employees to track their habits and found that at any given time, 40 percent of all cubicles or offices were sitting unoccupied. Many workers were in conference rooms or down the street at Starbucks, where they could more easily meet in teams. Others were toggling between multiple buildings and facilities. William Biggs, executive director of administrative services, asked his assistant to track his whereabouts. It turns out he spent less than 5 percent of his time at company headquarters.

This is the truth for a number of company leaders. Our work has moved from individual to team-based. We need to loosely pull groups together and then dismantle them, but that is difficult in a poorly-designed space. Based on the study, Group Health defined three design goals: First, the office needed more conference space. Secondly, cubicle sizes could shrink somewhat since workers were increasingly spending time outside of them. Finally, mobile workers like Biggs needed “touch-down” space where they could check their e-mail and make phone calls when visiting different divisions of the company.

Essential ingredients in the today's office....

Isn't it time you worked with an expert?
Furniture-Planning-Installation
rosecityoffice.com
-end of part two

....help me with my office! (part 1)

Gone are the days when offices were typically cubicle, surrounded by white walls and lit by white fluorescent lights. It is all about attracting that perfect employee...the new "it's all about me generation."

Years ago when I started in this industry....it was all about 'just jam as many people in a space as possible.' It is not like that anymore...and if you are an employer that "doesn't get it"....it might be too late for you. Seriously!

A whole new set of workers are on the horizon Mr. Employer...so think twice before you buy that super inexpensive laminate desk from China. The economy is starting to change and the oppressed worker wants more than a $59 chair with no arms.

Thanks to corporate giants like Google and Pixar that have demonstrated tremendous success despite their unconventional workplaces, more people are embracing the idea that creative work environment helps stimulate minds and inspire innovation.

According to a recent survey by Gensler, the prominent corporate architecture firm, half of all employees say they would work an extra hour per day if they had a better workplace. So why do so many companies maintain dark, cramped, ugly, or poorly designed offices?

Studies show that a well-designed office is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to retain workers and make them more productive. General Electric, Microsoft, and major West Coast insurer Group Health are just a handful of major organizations reaping the bottom-line benefits of smart, worker-oriented designs.

But if you want to do the office correctly....and attract talent (real talent)....how much should the boss budget for the office? ---Between $3,870 per person (open office design) and $6,447 per person (closed office design) to outfit an empty building, according to the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA).

Goal: Understand how well — or poorly — you’re using the existing floor plan.

Bad office layouts are made, not born. An office configuration that suited the way business was done even five years ago might be irrelevant now. The best way to find out if your office is dysfunctional is to conduct a formal study. Create an “activity portrait,” a drawing of traffic patterns around the office, by shadowing employees for several days in a row.

Whether you conduct an in-house study or hire a design consultant, the three key methods for gathering information are shadowing employees on their paths through the office; visiting conference rooms and desk areas every half hour to determine how they are being used; and asking employees to track their own movements and report back on how they spend their time. Here’s what to look for:

Space Layout---Study whether the layout of the building is helping or hindering employees in the quest to get work done. Shadowing workers for a few days will reveal wasted motion and inefficient organization of space.

-Red flags:

• Collaborative spaces are bunched at the far end of the building
• People whose jobs are highly collaborative do not naturally come into contact with colleagues during the workday
• Employees spend a lot of time in transit to meeting rooms, printers, copiers, and fax machines

Space Usage---Find out how often people are using existing spaces. Check in on what’s happening by stopping by cubicles and conference rooms every half hour.

-Red flags:

• An area is always empty
• An area is overcrowded
• Workers are competing for certain furnishings or equipment and not using others

Workarounds---Look closely at whether workers are using their space, furnishings, and equipment as intended. Does the environment support their process, or have they been forced to circumvent it?

-Red flags:

• Employees meet at a coffee shop because they can’t find common space
• Workers use drop-in space on another floor because the area around their desks is too loud
• They bring lamps from home to avoid harsh fluorescent lighting

If your study reveals a number of red flags, it’s time to hire an architect or office environment expert and find out how a redesign can improve the efficiency of your space.

Isn't it time you worked with an expert?

Furniture-Planning-Installation

 rosecityoffice.com

-end of part one

....now let the "big dogs" eat!

I gave it a day...actually a few days. I haven't thought about it because I knew what the outcome would be from the beginning. I haven't talked about it with my friends, or with the guy down at the local Shell station (he loves the Ducks). I still haven't watched Sports Center simply because I don't want to watch it all unfold again. But I think I'll try and give it a shot right now.

First, the Ducks played an amazing game, and it was one of the hardest fought battles in BCS history. Know what is weak though? Nike has a new advertisement that pays homage to the Oregon Ducks, losers of Monday night’s BCS title game against the Auburn Tigers. The ad reads “Everyone Loses Games. Few Change Them.” What part of the game Oregon changed, however, is up for debate. They took on an SEC team....and lost (even the experts predicted it). You knew Auburn was better.

Oregon is Nike’s pet football program, thanks in large part to the fact that Phil Knight, the company’s co-founder, is an alum (he donated $100 million to Oregon athletics in 2007). In addition to the donation, Knight also makes sure that Nike outfits the team with 384 possible uniform combinations (including those crazy neon socks they wore in the title game).

As for the advertisement, I’m not exactly sure what it’s implying. I think what it’s saying is that Oregon somehow changed “the game” because of their bold sartorial choices. In essence, “Okay, we lost, but we looked great doing it.”

Give me a break! Are you serious?

"Oregon is one of the fastest teams in the nation, and we wanted them to look fast," Todd Van Horn, Nike's top football uniform designer, told the press. Visually, the colorway of the uniforms is meant to bring your eyes to the fastest moving parts of the player's bodies -- the hands, and in particular the shins, which move twice as fast as the thighs do while running. The bright yellow socks, which blended seamlessly into the cleats, drew attention to that fact.

Those color contrasts are functional as well. "We hear constantly from teams and quarterbacks that having a bit more visual acuity and contrast on the field makes things easier," says Van Horn. The white jerseys and grey pants, combined with the green accents, allowed the players to stand out vividly against their Auburn opponents.

You might have also caught sight of those flashy helmets -- the swirling pattern on the outside emphasizes the fact that Nike's padding system on the thighs and shoulders contain carbon fiber plates (layered over breathable foam and a moisture wicking base). Nike worked with a company that usually applies custom graphics to cars to create the special decals applied to the helmet. Combined with the green highlights of the Oregon "O," these created a visual vibration you could probably discern on your TV as an almost moiré pattern effect.

Monday’s national title game had an interesting corporate subplot: the Ducks are outfitted by Nike, while the Auburn Tigers’ uniforms are made by upstart apparel company Under Armour. The BCS title represents the first major sports championship won by Under Armour, and the fact that it was over Nike probably sweetened the pot a bit.

Drawing the focus to the Oregon players may have helped the QB to find his receivers. However, the relative drabness of the Auburn players may have enabled them to sneak in for the two picks they got.

The challenge I saw was in the function over the form. Both teams were slipping and sliding all over the place, however it seemed Oregon more than Auburn. Same issue appeared with TCU in the Rose Bowl with "specially designed" equipment supposedly designed by Nike just for the Rose Bowl.

But please Duck fans...please stop saying 'what if.'

"What if" Darron Thomas (QB) hands the ball to LaMichael and he walks in for a touchdown at the start of the second quarter instead of making a 'bonehead read on the defensive tackle. ..."What if" Cliff Harris' second interception wasn't called incomplete and the Ducks take over. Then Newton doesn't throw a touchdown pass to Kodi Burns on the next play...... "What if" Kenjon Barner doesn't get stopped at the one on fourth down and scores a touchdown? Or "what would have happened" if the Ducks had decided to kick a field goal instead of going for it?

But what really happened was...with just under two minutes left in the fourth the Tigers had a first and ten on their own forty. They would hand the ball off to Michael Dyer and he'd pick up about seven yards after being brought down by Eddie Pleasant.... Dyer got up and looked for a ref to hand the ball to, and then all of the sudden he took off down field. He ended up picking up 37 yards on the play...a whistle had never blown the play dead.

"What if" Dyer had been ruled down on the play? Would Auburn still have picked up enough yards to kick a field goal? Maybe. But we'll never know. But you need to know the 3 main things to contemplate about Oregon's loss to Auburn.

#1) It wasn’t Oregon’s fault. The turf was slippery, the crowd and the broadcast was pro-Auburn, and the head referee spoke in a tone that seemed to say, “We’re gonna put you slimy hippies from the West in your place.” Forget the fact that the Ducks were cheated out of an interception and a wrist does not make a running back down in the 4th quarter of the BCS Championship- this one wasn’t meant to be.

#2) Wait- maybe it was their fault. Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas played resiliently and threw a handful of pinpoint passes, but he made the incorrect read on option plays all night long and he smiled and laughed way too much immediately following the game. Many would also like some questions answered about the play calling. Why pound the middle- the strength of the Auburn defense- all night long? Why go for it on 4th down when the red zone offense had no traction whatsoever? Why stick with a ground-based strategy that your QB was struggling to execute? Hindsight is certainly 2020- which will more than likely also be a year that marks a decade since the Ducks let one slip away.

#3) God likes the SEC. The brass at Auburn is convinced that the man in the sky is a big fan. In post game interviews, both Cam Newton and coach Gene Chizik suggested that God himself (they noted God is male) is entirely preoccupied with making the world know that both they and Auburn University are incredible entities, which the 21-year-old Newton explained to us is how God displays His own greatness.

Indeed, we learned a lot about the Universe on a Monday night in Arizona. Peering into the theories of Newton and Chizik, the entire college football season was a mere game of tiddlywinks by the big man above, a predetermined and intricately orchestrated celebration of the gruff coach and the scandal-laden quarterback, who moments after the game told America that God is personally ‘using me as vessel every single day’. Many now wait with anxious anticipation to see how a vessel of God does on the Wonderlic test.

We also learned...the game is over so move on Duck fans (and let’s be honest…the SEC will likely be back again…and again…and again in the title game for years to come….not the Ducks). The SEC is a conference of proven winners. Let's see if you get by Utah next year.

Oregon, your 15 minutes of fame has ended....now let the "big dogs" from the SEC eat!

...we can do it!

In 1942, a UPI photographer visited a metal pressing factory outside Detroit and took a snapshot of a slim, fresh-faced brunette leaning over a machine. The picture enchanted the graphic artist J. Howard Miller, who had been hired by the Westinghouse Company to design a series of motivational posters aimed at boosting female factory workers’ morale.

He incorporated a pretty young subject’s face and polka-dot headscarf into one of the posters, which features a determined-looking woman flexing her right bicep under the slogan “We Can Do It!”

President Roosevelt calls in January, 1942 for production of 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks, 20,000 antiaircraft guns, and 6 million deadweight tons of merchant shipping. His $59 billion budget submitted January 7 has more than $52 billion earmarked for the war effort, whose emphasis is initially on stopping Hitler in Europe.

With American men enlisting in the war effort, the work force quickly diminished. Who would "man" the assembly lines in the factories to produce the many needed items for the current war? Filling a gross shortage of manpower, through the factory gates flooded an army of woman power. Mothers, daughters, secretaries, wives and even schoolgirls picked up the factory duties the men had left behind.

More than six million female workers helped to build planes, bombs, tanks and other weapons that would eventually win World War II. They stepped up to the plate without hesitation and gave up their domestic jobs to accomplish things that only men had done before them. They became streetcar drivers, operated heavy construction machinery, worked in lumber and steel mills, unloaded freight and much more. Proving that they could do the jobs known as "men’s work" created an entirely new image of women in American society, and set the stage for upcoming generations.

One very important worker was ‘Rosie the Riveter’ ….the name given to the woman depicted on many of the propaganda posters. In the most famous one, she is wearing that red and white bandana to cover her hair, and she has rolled back the sleeve of her blue coverall to expose a flexed bicep. The expression on her face was confident and determined. The caption above her head reads, "We Can Do It!" in bold letters.

That woman was ….Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the real-life inspiration behind the iconic poster, who died on December 26 in Lansing, Michigan, at the age of 86. Just 17 when the photographer captured her, she had taken a factory job after graduating high school, one of 6 million women who entered the workforce during World War II to plug gaping holes in the industrial labor force.

Decades later, the poster became one of America’s most recognizable emblems of women’s empowerment, spawning countless imitations and reproduced on everything from mugs and magnets to postage stamps.

Actually, more than four decades would go by before Doyle learned of the poster’s existence and discovered that her likeness had inspired a pop culture reference. Paging through a magazine one day in 1984, she spotted a photograph of the poster and recognized her younger self.

In a 2002 interview with the Lansing State Journal, Doyle, who began making frequent appearances in Michigan to sign posters, explained that motherhood and daily life had kept her too busy to realize she had become the face of Rosie the Riveter. "I was changing diapers all the time," she said.

One of many in Miller’s series, the poster was barely seen outside Westinghouse factories in the Midwest, where women were making plastic helmet liners. It was not until later, when feminists rediscovered the poster during the 1970s and 1980s, that it achieved its iconic status and became associated with the World War II-era character.

Despite the way they were discarded at the end of the war, these female workers had much to do with the success of the United States during World War II and their contribution should not be forgotten. In a very direct way, women helped win the war.

Thanks Rosie!! We "could" do it once before...but I wonder if we still can today...to be honest.