Here, Jeremy Myerson identifies a number of the key challenges often encountered when developing a more innovative workplace strategy
Making changes to your workplace to foster innovation faces a stiff credibility test. There is often widespread cynicism among employers about design changes and a belief that new-fangled ideas will never work. Therefore proposed developments must be credible in terms of the organisation's purpose and values. Design concepts must be robust in terms of meeting real needs and avoid accusations of being faddish. Otherwise ideas which might have value in the long term risk being swept away by a wave of scepticism.
Linked to credibility is the challenge of ownership. Think twice before handing down edicts from on high about how the workplace is going to be remodelled. Your people have to live in that environment every day of the working week. If the process of making design changes can involve employees and act as a sounding board for their views then they will come to 'own' the new solutions and have more of a vested interest in making them work effectively.
Any changes to the physical fabric of buildings such as knocking down walls or introducing new spatial layouts can be costly, complex and highly disruptive. Many of the most highly publicised examples of innovative workplaces are expensive corporate schemes which feature extensive remodelling, new atria and bespoke furniture. This level of cost is not relevant to all organisations, such as SMEs or certain public sector agencies. However with some smart thinking, design concepts to support innovation can be introduced within a prudent level of expenditure.
American charity fundraiser Palotta Teamworks, for example, worked with architect Clive Wilkinson to create an inspiring low-cost workplace in Los Angeles in a raw warehouse-shed. The solution: simple tented strrctures attached to prefabricated shipping containers to create a series of flexible spaces.
Part of making your workplace more innovative is making it more accessible to all ages and abilities so that everyone can contribute at an equal level. This is of growing importance as demographic change introduces greater diversity in the workforce. Regulatory compliance is an issue here. The October 2004 implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act covers 8.7million people. This requires workplaces to be accessible to disabled people and is encouraging a rethink by firms of current spatial and building practices. This is important in its own right but age discrimination legislation is now offering further protection to an ageing workforce. While few employers welcome new legislative challenges, fewer still relish a skill shortage as experienced older workers flee the workplace. Better lighting, more flexible working hours and more ergonomic furniture could result.
There is growing recognition that all employers who interface by phone or email with customers are on the frontline of marketing, whatever their job function. So it is essential that the office environment in which they are work is itself ‘on message’ in terms of the brand values it expresses. Giving workspace a physical identity that is consistent with the organisation’s brand and culture is an emerging challenge, and has been termed the ‘narrative’ or ‘branded’ office.
A good example of branding an office effectively can be seen at Bloomberg in London’s Finsbury Square, designed by Powell-Tuck Associates. Transitions from dark to light spaces, neon bridges, giant TV screens and social hubs all help to suggest a fast-moving, dynamic, 24-hour global media organisation. At Reebok in Canton near Boston, meanwhile, the campus designed by archietcts NBJJ has the entrance facade of a sports stadium – and sports facilities are incorporated into aspects of the main building as part of the brand narrative.
Whatever changes you make, those developments should be measurable. So it is important to decide at the outset what evaluation criteria you are going to use to measure the design scheme. It is important not to load the entire future of the company onto how the new work environment works. Equally, you should not divorce workplace innovation entirely from business performance factors. A mix of sensible measurement criteria such as rates of staff retention and recruitment, staff days off sick and levels of intensity of space occupancy can be used to evaluate the changes over time.