....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