For many, including articles discussing the recently released Harvard study which examines the effects of “open plan” on collaboration, modern workplace design is thought of as anti-walls – with no enclosure nor sense of individual space. Basically, a massive number of workstations are densely crammed onto a floor with no spatial boundaries, at a detriment to staff productivity.
This is not the workplace strategist’s recommendation.
The role of a workplace strategist is what colloquially can be called “pre-pre-design,” which consists of the activities that enable both the company and the architects to have a strong understanding of how the organization functions, its strategic goals, current and future ways of working, and unique departmental needs. This is an all-encompassing endeavor, requiring the right people at the table, and accomplished through conducting visioning sessions, focus groups, interviews, workplace observations, staff surveys, and other methods of data collection. Workplace Strategists analyze the data, ask the “right” questions, challenge leadership and organizational assumptions about what their workplace can achieve, and present solutions both from a spatial and programmatic perspective. This ultimately cultivates into the company’s workplace strategy, leading the charge in matching the organization’s space to support its business needs.
Unfortunately, readers of the Harvard study may come to the false conclusion that modern workplaces being built today are all “open plan” and they may also believe any transformation from traditional to more modern workspaces will result in dysfunction.
Several years ago, there was an initial push to transform traditional workplaces into the “open plan,” as the authors define in the research paper. These efforts resulted in organizations taking down walls and getting rid of cubicles with the focus of realizing real estate cost efficiencies. Many pursued this path without regard for the overall workplace strategy, instead solely focusing on densification. Not enough due diligence was done to understand an organization’s unique needs and employee ways of working. It is no surprise that a lot of these endeavors started the poor perception of “open plan.”
Today, workplace strategists promote a workplace that aligns to the strategic goals of the business; providing spaces where people can do their best work. Workplaces with a variety of spaces, both enclosed and open, shared and individual, give employees and departments the ability to choose the space that suits them best. From individual focus tasks in a quiet room to collaboration in huddle rooms to recharging in a meditation area – choice enables and supports productivity. Figure 1 below demonstrates the evolution of workplaces.
Evolving Workplace Paradigm. Source: Ted Moudis Associates
It is important that the evident decrease of high partitions is addressed here. Through best practice we understand that reconfiguring spaces and taking down walls encourages daylight throughout the space, which has shown to promote employee wellbeing and productivity, and enable employees to access fellow colleagues and leaders. However, boundaries and a sense of structure are still important. This can be accomplished through the neighborhood concept – as demonstrated in Figure 2. This setup provides both open and enclosed alternative and individual working spaces, giving staff a sense of home and ownership of their space, access to variety of spaces, and enables natural light to flow throughout the space.
The Neighborhood Concept Source: Ted Moudis Associates