Data vs. Opinion - How to Spark Intelligent Workplace Design

What drives productivity, employee retention and a sense of belonging in the workplace? Employee experience—yet this remains one of the biggest dilemmas facing organizations right now.

Today’s business leaders recognize its importance. In a recent Deloitte survey, 84% of respondents said the need to improve the employee experience is an important issue, and 28% identified it as one of the three most urgent issues facing their organization in 2019.

To address this challenge, many companies have invested large sums into workplace transformation projects—from refurbishments to relocation fit-outs. But these are not always effective. In fact, research from Leesman shows that just 34% of these projects deliver high performance results. And that’s not for lack of energy and investment.

The problem is that all too often, workplace design is tethered to a top-down process where assumptions about the workspace are formulated by experts and the C-Suite. Those assumptions are then realized as actions with little to no benefit to the employee. In other instances, organizations may adopt a “copy & paste” strategy where they simply replicate what other companies have successfully implemented.

It’s a costly approach that can be hit and miss, or worse, counterproductive. The approach has to change—workplaces are complex and people are too. The solution to the employee experience challenge is rooted in meeting people’s needs through intelligent workplace design. And with the dawn of technologies and tools that make intelligent design a reality, organizations can embark on that journey, making the timely and informed decisions required to execute a best-in-class experience.

Yannick Villar, experience design expert and Co-Founder of Wx*, a consulting studio on workplace experience, shares two truths foundational to this type of design and describes how data-driven solutions are essential for effective workplace transformation.

When is Intelligent Workplace Design Needed?

The short answer is “always.” “When there’s lack of understanding we begin to see environments built on guesswork, ill-designed spaces and clumsy macrozoning,” Yannick says. “Think quiet zones placed next to noisy areas, lockers and cloakrooms that can’t support demand, reduced team leader visibility due to confusing seating and room management. It all adds up to friction and disharmony in that daily journey through the workplace.”

Effective measurement and design strategies can help organizations avoid these types of mistakes, which can be quite costly. While implementing a new design approach may seem difficult, it’s a crucial step to create a workplace that works for everyone. Data- and user-driven design is essential for companies looking to undertake any of the following activities:

• Program the space requirement for a new office, which can include defining an optimized flex ratio (or ideally a customized flex ratio for each team), modularizing the workplace to reduce overcrowding, and identifying the optimum size and number of meeting and activity-based rooms.

• Evaluate the current workplace experience and uncover improvement opportunities, which can remove perception bias, reveal pain points such as noise and visual distractions, and identify opportunities to reduce them (e.g., enclosed privacy pods).

• Design and select technology to make the workplace connected, which supports ongoing digital transformation by integrating technologies that enable employees to communicate, book activities or resources, and make service requests.

• Improve the workplace experience, productivity and collaboration, by reducing conflict for ‘premium space’, updating inadequate or redundant technology, or minimizing friction when employees move from one activity to another.

• Intelligently reduce space, which helps solve the common problem of excessive space, ensures reduced overheads and promotes efficient use of the building to help improve everything from collaboration to energy management.

CASE STUDY: Mining for Data

Wx*, a consulting studio and fully owned subsidiary of Sodexo, informed a refresh of a large mining company’s regional headquarters. Flex office layout implementation was analyzed to better understand the usage of various spaces and the needs of the people within each space.

The floor was made up of 12 different spaces in a flex office format, including various neighborhoods, cafeterias, quiet zones, meeting rooms and more. Analysis by Wx identified consistent misuse of workspaces, overcrowding, and incorrect allocation of furniture.

These findings helped to inform the organization’s strategy and resulted in a solution that reduced the m² of spaces not sufficiently used, implemented better meeting room management systems, and added adaptable and moveable furniture. A permanent sensor solution continues to track the space occupation and provide insights.

Measurement Matters

Capturing and analyzing the right data at the right times ensures that the employee experience is deeply and accurately understood. It also ensures that the value of workplace improvements is quantifiable.

Ultimately, design built on assumption ignores the real reason the workplace exists—to support and bring value to those who use it. And decisions based on robust measurement are much more likely to create the reinvigorated employee experience required to unlock progress in the workplace.

Discover Wx*

Wx is a consulting studio, and fully owned subsidiary of Sodexo, that helps companies quantify and improve their workplace experience through ethnography, IoT and data science. Born from the vision to create people powered environments, the Wx studio has developed a methodology that leverages data analysis to optimize the employee experience. Contact us to learn more about Wx, and read the press release.

 

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*Transferred to Jooxter (May 2023). A commercial partnership between the 2 entities will enable Sodexo's clients to benefit from the services and innovations.