An office fit for Kings?
- By Leni Rivera
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- 24 Oct, 2019
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The physical space is an amazing thing. It has the ability to alter human behavior and even change our perception of ourselves and others. In the HBO series Game of Thrones for example, why do you think a seat on the physical Iron Throne was so sought after? The actual throne itself wasn’t very comfortable. It’s what the physical seat represented that created an instant change in behavior on the part of both the person who sat on it as well as all the people who believe in what it represents.
The physical space in a work environment is another, clearer example of how this phenomenon works.
If you remove all the people from a workspace, or walk into it on a holiday when no one is around, you will gain an understanding of the human dynamics that exist there. A damp, cold office space with stark white overhead lighting and low ceilings, with many tiny desks lined up together in rows, white walls with gray scuff marks, no living plants in sight, and a watercooler in the far corner beside an old coffeemaker, may just be enough to imagine a predictable and monotonous buzz in that space on a regular workday. Whereas walking into a workplace with brightly colored walls, warm ambient lighting, lounging areas with sofas and club chairs, a foosball table in the corner, and desks by the windows, will probably entice you to imagine a more spontaneous energy in the workspace with a lot of intermingling between coworkers.
Now imagine if you witnessed both of these very different workspaces within a single corporate office, each space divided only by a thin wall and maybe a set of double doors. Wouldn’t that make you wonder about the dynamics of that corporate work environment? What set of parameters would define whether a person is placed in one workspace versus the other? Could it have to do with corporate hierarchy? Job function or description? There may even be questions around whether people from these two different office spaces even interact – and if they do, what it must feel like for them to cross over and enter into such a different work environment.
What I have found from living and working in different cities around the world with distinctly different cultures, religions and business practices, is that human beings all react the same way to a physical environment. Environments can change our perspective of ourselves and others.
When a person is given a luxurious office that is starkly different from the offices of the majority in the same company, a sense of superiority in that person becomes inevitable. It’s the degree of superiority and how individuals use it either to their advantage or for others, that differs. Likewise, if a person is given a workspace that is dingy, dark and secluded – or its opposite: assigned to desk number 42 in row after row of the same tiny desk space in a large vast room where everything is exactly the same and no one knows you by name – their sense of self-worth within the company inevitably drops.
These different workspaces even become a way by which others in the company perceive an individual’s value. Joe Smith could come into the office looking like everyone else, but the minute someone mentions that Joe works in the luxurious offices, the perception of him is altered, and he is bestowed a high sense of worth, which even alters the way people interact with him. In the same effect, if someone mentioned that Joe works at desk #42 in the common work area, the perception of his worth in the company also changes, and his name is all too often eventually forgotten.
Understanding this dynamic, and the power that the physical environment inevitably has over human beings and their perceptions, is even more important today than ever. More and more, companies are embracing corporate values grounded in terms such as “Inclusivity and Diversity”, especially as technology enables organizations to become more global. Using these terms in a corporate environment means embracing and respecting what makes people unique individuals, and supporting an environment where each individual is made to feel that they are treated equally – not better nor worse than anyone else in the company, regardless of what their role is.
I’m not an expert on corporate culture nor on what values a company should or should not embrace. But I am an expert on physical work environments, and how they impact human beings. Hence, if your company is not one to embrace such values as Inclusivity and Diversity, then having a work environment with spaces that are so divided in their look and feel, where employees derive their corporate sense of self-worth and value through their assigned workspace, then at least your sense of identity is consistent.
But if your company claims to uphold values that are indeed rooted in Inclusivity and Diversity, then having a workplace environment that also consistently supports, expresses, and enhances these values equally in all workspaces is the most important way for your employees to know what it is to feel embraced for their differences, and be valued equally by the company.
The
physical space is an indeed amazing thing. It’s profound ability to change
human behavior and our perception of ourselves and others is both remarkable and
inevitable. At a time when diverse human backgrounds and experiences have
already proven to provide an unparalleled impact on a single decision, why
would a company today want to build Iron Thrones?
This time last year, virtually every company around the world shut the doors of their offices, and those that could, asked their employees to work from home. The definition of a workplace began its unforeseeable transformation from a physical office space to a virtual room from anywhere… or did it?
The reality is that this transformation had already started occurring over a decade ago. The pandemic that struck the world simply caused our perception of the workplace to finally catch up with this reality.
In 2019 (12 months before the pandemic struck), The International Workplace Group (IWG) released their annual Global Workplace Survey report, in which they examined responses from over 15,000 professionals from 80 countries. This report revealed that 70% of professionals globally work remotely at least one day a week, and more than half work remotely at least half of the week.
Working remotely is not a new concept, it was just perceived differently. Companies considered those who worked from home and those who worked in the office, as separate entities. They invested their resources on the workplace experience of the physical workplace, while disregarding the home workplace environment. But the pandemic has altered that perception. Everyone from the top executives down were forced to work from home, and thus experienced together the importance of a consistent conveyance of the company’s culture for all employees, regardless of where they work.
Taking this new perception into consideration, the corporate world is now facing an evolution in how they will redefine their “workplace” moving forward, post-pandemic. Some companies have evolved to a fully remote workforce, shifting the workplace to the home environment. Some have a hybrid approach. And others are adhering to a fully office-based work environment. Regardless of how this is defined, what is undoubtedly clear is that resources need to be invested in both environments in order to ensure that the corporate culture is consistently felt by all employees, anywhere.
To demonstrate how this is possible, here is a model of a potential hybrid scenario with employees working in both locations.
I have been a Workplace Experience specialist for 8 years now, and moved to the Bay Area because this is where the industry is prevalent. When I began developing and running a workplace experience for a company all those years ago, I didn’t even realize it had a name, much less understood the impact it would have on the productivity and happiness of people at work.
What most people seem to get wrong is that Workplace Experience is not – should not be – a mere collection of facility perks and benefits. I learned from that mistake early on, and still witness that mistake being made frequently, even here in the Bay Area. Just because you have a corporate gym on premises, or offer food in a company cafeteria, or designate a space in the office for a pool table, doesn’t mean that (1) your employees will even use it, (2) it will be appreciated, or (3) it will have any significant impact on employee engagement. I have seen free shuttle services for employees being underutilized, food in corporate cafes wasted, free gym classes underpopulated, and facility events fall flat. This is because the biggest misconception about a Workplace Experience is that it will generate a fun, unique, engaging environment all on its own. The mistake is a dependence on a Workplace Experience to create a corporate culture, and not the other way around.
The establishment of a corporate culture that is true to its values, principles and overall mission, is where it all begins, always. This forms the foundation of the relationship between the company and its employees. A solid corporate culture attracts the right employees because people want to invest in relationships that are based on mutual respect, trust, personal growth and a shared vision. But people are also wise to recognize when the company is sincere about its culture, or whether it’s just lip service.
Workplace Experience is the measure by which employees are able to quickly and easily gauge the culture’s authenticity. This is because it is the only element of a culture that can be experienced physically through all the human senses – touch, taste, sound, smell and sight, and so it bears witness to the sincerity of its purpose. That’s why placing a pool table in the office or sleep pods in the corner without having a reason behind their existence will cause more doubt than anything else.
Only if a company’s culture anchors itself on being truly invested in its employees’ health and wellbeing, for example, will facility features such as fitness classes, various healthy food offerings, placement of living plants in offices, allocating special parking spaces designed to optimize step counts, and facility programs aimed at helping people achieve their health goals, succeed. In the same respect, if the office areas of the company executives have vastly higher-end finishes, lighting, comfort and appearance than the work areas of the rest of the company, do you think that employees will believe the company culture supports equality and inclusivity?
And let’s not forget, the purpose of a Workplace Experience is far more than just offering attractive features in a workplace. Its primary function as a tool of the corporate culture is to enable and empower employees to be fully engaged and happy with their work. The scope of Workplace Experience includes the entire journey of an employee throughout their workday – from their transportation to work, their entrance into the facility, the ease with which they are able to access their needs (a meeting room, an appropriate work space, work tools and equipment, locating people and departments, etc.) and collaborate with each other (in engaging spaces, over coffee, with meals, through facility events and programs, etc.), and even providing relief by accomplishing chores before ending the day such as dry cleaning, car wash, or bringing home ready-cooked meals. That’s why Workplace Experience is such a powerful tool. It has within its very purpose, the capacity to directly impact employees’ productivity as well as directly influence their happiness at work.
If a company just throws in facility “perks and benefits” without anchoring them in their corporate culture, this investment will not only be a waste of money, it will be the large elephant in the room that constantly reminds employees of how inauthentic the company is. And conversely, as the only physical manifestation of a corporate culture, Workplace Experience can be the company’s most important tool in expressing to employees their sincerity.
Watch out for my first book on Workplace Experience, coming out this year!
