The modern workplace is transforming the way people think about their office space. Leading enterprises are leveraging their workplace to benefit their business and their people. We recently hosted a webinar to address the best practices for the modern workplace. Our panel of industry experts Jill Zunshine, Former Global Head of Real Estate at HP, Tom Zampini, CEO of Beco, and Luc Kamperman, Partner of Veldhoen Company, shared their insights and lessons learned from working with workplace strategies and activity based working. Below we walk through some of the major highlights from each of our presenter’s presentations, read on to learn more.
How to Take a Workplace from Lifeless to Lively
Presented by: Jill Zunshine, Former Global Head of Real Estate, HP
When beginning a workplace transformation, you must gather data to understand how your company and how employees work. There are many ways to collect data, but there are 3 steps that cannot be forgotten.
- Business Strategies: Understand each business line and function areas of your business. Talk to them about their strategy and goals for their department.
- Employee Feedback: Gather and analyze engagement scores and satisfaction surveys to understand what employees think about the current workspace.
- Utilization Percentages: Collect how space is being used and what spaces are being used for what type of activity. Having the right utilization collection technologies can accelerate your process.
“The best workplace strategies are designed around the people and their work,” says Jill Zunshine. When designing an activity based workplace, workstyles and work settings need to be considered. Jill uses five work styles and five work settings to understand how employees work. Here’s a few examples:
Work Style:
- Agile: Often means flexible, frequent changes between collaborating and concentrating (ex. System software engineer).
- Innovator: Refers to constantly developing or creating something new (ex. Research engineer).
Work Setting:
- Entry Zone: Typically a reception area or business lounge. These types of settings are best for the traveler work style.
- Quiet Zone: Little to no talking takes place in this area. This work setting is suitable for agile, concentrator, or innovator working styles.
*Design Tip: creating spaces that flow from an active buzz to a quieter noise level has shown to be most effective.
Watch the webinar to learn more about creating a lively workplace strategy >>
Technology in the Modern Workplace
Presented by: Tom Zampini, CEO of Beco
From experience, Tom Zampini sees three problems that have arisen regarding the modern workplace:
- Over Spending: Large and inflexible portfolios are heavily underused.
- Failure to Embrace Digital: There’s a failure to embrace digital and thinking that mobility undermines productivity.
- Working Environment: Companies are either working in new ways in old spaces, or working in new spaces that impede real work.
To combat these issues, today’s dynamic workplaces need real-time data. “There’s a need for real-time monitoring of space utilization across the entire portfolio. It’s not just a space study, it’s a perpetual measurement of all space, all the time, at scale,” says Tom.
Once you gather the real-time data, it unlocks the ability to see true success. Such as:
- Saving on real estate: repurpose space, delay expansion, and consolidate buildings.
- Better management of workplace: optimize design, find a free space in real-time, and bring amenities online.
Watch the webinar to learn more about enabling the employee experience through mobile >>
Industry Trends & Consulting Experiences
Presented by: Luc Kamperman, Partner at Veldhoen Company
How leadership and employees engage with one another is changing right alongside the workplace. Once you have an activity based work environment, how do you support the employee’s productivity and innovation? Luc follows 3 factors to lead to better performance and personal satisfaction.
- Autonomy: people want to explore, learn, and foster their inner drive. This can be supported by giving people control in their environment.
- Mastery: employees should strive to get better at doing things, and encourage improvements and growth.
- Purpose: what is connecting them to their work and workplace?
*Engagement Tip: If you want engagement, a self-directed approach is ideal.
When optimizing your workplace, an integrated approach is the most effective. An integrated approach consists of the physical, virtual, and behavior environment. What that means is:
- Physical: the workspace
- Virtual: mobilization of information
- Behavioral: change and communication
Watch the webinar to learn more about the opportunities activity based working creates >>