Workplace fit-outs are no longer just about pure function; the focus has shifted to enhancing human experience and staff wellbeing. Ruth Evans of CPMG Architects explores the growing link between design and behaviour.
Historic trends have showcased a ‘job for life’ mentality in the UK’s workforce, but as the employment landscape continually adapts and changes, it’s more common to see younger generations job-hopping, with a focus on fulfilment over pure practicality. This feeling of being valued can be the deciding factor for many in the working world on whether to stick or twist with a company, with the past few years alone showcasing how the workforce isn’t focused on ‘living to work’ but ‘working to live.’
Space can influence culture. It may seem surprising that four walls can command such collaboration, but it is what is created within the four walls that really drives the environment. Through human-centric design elements, the space can foster an environment that is both personal but also personified for the best of the business and its staff.
Where has the shift come from?
We all know that hybrid working has unveiled a new working world, with businesses understanding the need to adapt and offer the comfortability, freedom and productivity staff have found in the comfort of their own homes. Across the UK, flexible working requests have increased, with office occupation at 35-40% compared to pre-2020 levels of 60-80%. Coupled with the rise of businesses reviewing office locations and leases, the office landscape is at a beneficial point for reviewing how it is best to work in this new age.
Workplace analysis is vital to creating longevity through an office environment and supporting the ‘solidification of presence.’ Success comes from understanding employees and what they would like to see, this incorporates all manner of focuses, relating to how they operate through to their own personal growth objectives, which can be supported with a change to the environment. Flexibility comes to fruition in both what employees and employers can achieve through an optimal working environment – and the idea that not one size fits all is prevalent in both aspects.
Workplace analysis lays the foundations to create a business and its culture that is completely achievable and gives scope to venture further than the simplistic office designs of the past.
Human-centric design elements
Utilising an open plan layout can encourage cross-team interaction, further enhanced by hotdesking and removing barriers like cellular offices. This works to make the act of speaking and working with others very easy, thereby fostering a team dynamic with the ethos of one for all, as opposed to all for one.
Multiple office levels are almost standard, especially in growing city centres and towns where multi-storey buildings are the norm. The question that is created when an office splits across more than one level is how
to draw people together through this space. Architectural interventions like mezzanine floors and centralised connecting staircases can encourage interaction and engagement throughout.
So-called ‘collision spaces’ support a coherent point of human nature – that we are social animals. The creation of seating areas for example, at connection points between floors or open office touch-down spaces, will see the natural gravitation of employees away from desks into more central spaces for socialisation. In fact, there is a clear demand being seen for leased office spaces which include these spaces for spontaneous interaction.
This links to the notion of creating a space that works for everyone – making sure that the same freedom of movement is there through appropriate accessibility measures, allowing all staff and visitors to access spaces easily and equally.
Biophilic design
When asking employees to prioritise their needs for a new office environment, we find that natural light, good heating and controllable ventilation feature at the top of the list. And so, window seats are at a premium and of course, people favour a connection to the outside world. Too many office environments are devoid of good natural light and connection with nature, favouring a much blanker canvas that can in turn result in raised cortisol levels.
Biophilic design has come into its stride with businesses pushing for this relationship with the external, living world. Increased natural light and utilisation of live plants in office spaces come hand in hand, with plants offering a connection with the living world that can make us feel calmer.
This subconscious internal drive to be linked with nature comes from our inherent makeup as humans, with our deep-rooted earthly origins, and the natural universe being part of our humanity. It’s commonly known that house plants make people happier, so utilising this element within the office space will have the same effect.
Physical & mental wellbeing
Around one third of employees in the UK report experiencing musculo-skeletal issues and many, operating in more traditional workplace settings, choose to remain at their desk for breaks and lunch, and to email colleagues rather than going to see them. Offices are not about being chained to your desk, especially as the positive impact on both health and productivity is well documented. So, spaces that prioritise movement rather than staying in one place, should always be the optimal route forward.
An area that can be trickier to navigate is making spaces work for a range of working styles or neurodivergences, where factors and impacts are very individual. Some find it difficult to work within noisier environments, while others thrive. So, different types of space within the overall makeup should strive to support all needs, providing safe havens alongside the bigger collaborative spaces – and whether that’s to support neurodiverse needs or simply quiet space to concentrate on harder tasks, productivity flourishes in a varied, flexible environment.
Ruth Evans is an associate and workplace analysis consultant at CPMG