CBRE, Los Angeles. 5th Floor, view of the sit/stand workstations. Photo courtesy CBRE.
On July 12, 2018, Susan S. Szenasy, Metropolis' director of design innovation, sat down with a panel of design experts at the Haworth showroom in Los Angeles, to learn more about how workplace design can attract and retain the best candidates and ultimately result in positive outcomes for businesses.
The panel included Toni Espera, vice president of people operations at Verifi, Inc., David A. Josker, managing director of the Los Angeles North Region for CBRE, Nadine Quirmbach, associate vice president of the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, and Jeff Reuschel, global director of design and innovation at Haworth. What follows is a transcript of that conversation, edited for clarity by Mia Nacamulli.
Susan S. Szenasy (SSS): We are making the business case for wellbeing in the workplace. For years, designers have been claiming that their work creates the bottom line; if we feel good in our space, we tend to concentrate better. Toni, you are an advocate for employee wellbeing. Can you discuss what human resources means today?
Toni Espera (TE): HR has grown as business has evolved. We work to balance the employer’s bottom line and optimum employee productivity.
SSS: How does wellness come into the conversation?
TE: To get the best productivity from an employee, you need a happy employee. Employee wellbeing benefits the employer in multifold ways, like higher-energy individuals and increased productivity. It starts on day one. In fact, when we are recruiting, we give prospective employees a tour of our space so that they can see how we provide for their whole being, not just their mind.
SSS: Jeff, with the Haworth project, what is your stance on wellness and how do you collaborate with designers and clients to meet demands?
Jeff Reuschel (JR): Businesses are interested in return on assets employed (ROAE). The last 20 years were focused on reducing the denominator of that formula: total assets, and facilities are a part of that. Now, it is time to work on increasing the numerator: net income, and that is where the productivity and effectiveness of the occupants reside.
SSS: How far along are businesses in this discourse?
JR: Businesses are ultimately after their employees’ best work. Because they want cognitive performance – decision-making, strategizing, planning – they care about employee health and emotional happiness to achieve better results.
SSS: Nadine, your firm has formed a design group that represents an important shift in how design architecture firms work.
Nadine Quirmbach (NQ): Our part of Cannon design is a sort of homegrown studio called the Yazdani studio that can tap into a group of experts and specialists to quickly solve problems. With that platform, we can stay on top of what the industry wants.
Because we are living in a time of globalization and ever-expanding technology, our clients are desperately trying to catch up and use our expertise to solve their unique problems. We build processes around their specific needs, from the human resources aspect to how they run their businesses.