How Can A Smart Designed Office Increase Productivity?

People are the heart of any company. And the value that a company attributes to its employees can be seen in their workspaces. A recent JLL investigation, ‘The Future of Work’, showed that changes in the way we work and the interaction between different generations are transforming the concept and function of offices.

The current hypercompetitive environment of converging industries and the short product life cycles are forcing organizations to continuously innovate. At the same time, companies are forced to deal with an increasingly fluid workforce, which includes teleworkers, freelancers, temporary workers, hired employees… while their workspaces must meet higher expectations of productivity improvement.

Large and small organizations are beginning to realize that having more flexible workspaces can help improve the management of this workforce. These flexible spaces comprise different types of areas that can promote collaboration and innovation, attract and retain talent and reduce occupancy costs.

What Factors Influence The Search For Flexible Workspaces?

There are many factors that lead to a growing demand for flexible spaces: from companies that seek to reduce occupancy costs, to be more agile and protect themselves from market volatility; even employees looking to work closer to home or remotely.

Today, the most common type of flexible spaces in the market is joint work, an office environment shared by multiple companies and professionals; But there are also companies that convert their own offices into a more flexible space, adding new types of work environments, where people can choose the way they prefer to work.

Facing this new scenario…

How Can You Improve The Employee Experience As A Competitive Differentiator to Attract, Retain Talent And Help You Be More Productive?

Companies can adopt different strategies, which include:

• A reactive approach: recognize that the work environment must convey its corporate culture and vision to employees.
• An active approach: define environments that reflect the values of the company and promote behavior aligned with its vision.
• A proactive approach: use the workplace as a competitive differentiator to attract and retain talents that act as brand ambassadors.

These initiatives provide an increase in employee engagement with the company, culture and workspace, to promote productivity and loyalty. More than just a place to work, organizations offer environments that favor collaboration and drive innovation. And continuous innovation can be a critical factor. Therefore, when it comes to their workspaces, organizations must be proactive in presenting innovative ideas.

There is a great opportunity for innovation in design. ‘The Future of Work’ research recognizes it as attractive to each of the five senses, and can affect a person’s ability to work toward different outcomes, from individual concentration to group collaboration.

In this way, future workspaces can be built around places such as a garden, a cellar, a theater or a tailor’s shop. This is how the architecture and design industry can play a key role in helping companies face changing scenarios.

Over The Next Three To Five Years, The Standard Of Excellence For Human Design Experience Will Include:

• The growing collaboration between human resources and IT teams to offer users integrated services and a unique experience in work environments. The goal is to offer variety and flexibility, so that people do not have to work exclusively at a desk, but can also work remotely and in common spaces, where they will connect with their peers, improving communication and collaboration between teams.
• The Internet of Things and predictive technologies will be fully implemented, so the facilities manager will be able to anticipate and adjust the spaces, according to the demands of the data based users.
• Hyper-personalization and flexibility of services will make employees feel supported and included.

The most successful companies on this trip will be the ones that really understand what the new workforce understands by “purpose” and “achievement”, designing their spatial occupation strategies based on these findings.

If interruptions, uncertainties and changes are inevitable, the best strategy is to build an operating environment informed by data intelligence and business analysis, consolidated to adapt to an evolving market.