Design firm unveils workplace strategy research available on www.mp-architects.com
BOSTON – Jan. 10, 2017 – Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), one of Boston’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, today unveiled new workplace strategy research to help businesses envision and leverage their workplace to inspire tomorrow’s talent. MPA’s research promotes a design discussion around the workplace as an environment where a company’s greatest assets – its people – come together to invent, produce, create, and improve lives. MPA’s research is available online and as a downloadable PDF at http://bit.ly/2gb3Bw8.
The workspace is an important physical asset within which a high degree of ingenuity and productivity is enabled. There is a clear business objective to creating a work environment that inspires and motivates employees, and it is extremely important for people to see the missions, goals and ideals portrayed in the physical space. While the design solution will vary by industry and company, MPA has learned that the design challenges remain constant. In compiling this research, MPA draws on more than two decades of working with countless companies to help them create the optimal work environment. For a workplace strategy to be prosperous in any industry, businesses must focus on these critical aspects to:
-Inspire creativity with collaboration and technology, support for mobile work, and quiet space;
-Attract and retain talent by creating community, supporting social interaction, and promoting wellness; and
-Enhance mission engagement by crafting an image and increasing brand awareness.
MPA’s workplace strategy research concludes that today’s office environment is a place of industriousness as much as it is a collegial, social setting where like-minded talents share knowledge and innovative thinking. Given how much time is spent in the workplace, workers need a setting that inspires and motivates, and businesses need a setting that inspires productivity. A strategically designed workplace can accomplish both.
About Margulies Perruzzi Architects
Consistently ranked as one of Boston’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects creates buildings and interiors for clients who value the quality of their workplace. The firm services the corporate, professional services, healthcare, science/technology, and real estate communities with a focus on sustainable design. MPA has designed high performance workspace for Iron Mountain, Zipcar, Boston Scientific, Philips, Cimpress/Vistaprint, Forrester Research, Hobbs Brook Management, and Reliant Medical Group. For more information, please visit http://www.mp-architects.com.
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Originally published in Building Operating Management. By Joe Flynn
December 2, 2016 – Part 1: Technology Changes and Younger Workforce Mean Mobile Options Are a Must
Thirty years ago, it was somewhat of a fantasy that businesses would one day migrate toward a “paperless office.” Much has changed since then. Technology has evolved in ways that have completely altered the manner in which people work today. With the introduction of networking, the Internet, mobile phones, SMS text messaging, and Wi-Fi, the ways — and more importantly the places — that people work are seemingly unlimited.
Technological changes have advanced how we work so rapidly that it has been nearly impossible to adapt our work environments to keep up with the changes. Today, business leaders are closely examining how to best leverage all this technology to maximize the productivity of their employees.
As the Baby Boom generation begins to exit the workforce, those workers are being replaced by younger, more technology-savvy employees who have been raised to effectively communicate in a highly mobile way. They are accustomed to managing tasks and functions wherever they are, and they are comfortable navigating even the most complicated activities through their phones or tablets. This simple reality has motivated many businesses, which were previously reluctant or resistant to considering a mobile work policy, to instead embrace the concept.
Technology informs planning
The biggest challenge most companies face in getting ready for a mobile work strategy lies in figuring out how the workplace is currently utilized. A growing number of businesses provide tracking technologies that enable facility managers to more accurately document how their work environments are occupied throughout the work day. By developing a clear understanding of the vacancy rate of individual work spaces, and the demand on meeting areas, facility managers can create a more accurate snapshot of workplace utilization. That snapshot shows what percent of staff is already working in environments that are not traditional workstations or offices.
Today, numerous computer-aided facility management (CAFM) and data tracking companies offer sensor-based software systems for monitoring the time and duration that spaces are occupied. These systems can help form a critical baseline of information, but they have limitations. Other suppliers have taken an even deeper dive on utilization by developing software that not only tracks workplace usage, but also leverages real time user-supplied data to document the quality and functionality of a particular room. This information helps facility managers understand which types of spaces are in greatest demand — and more importantly, why.
A careful study of how the current work environment is utilized can show how ready a business is for deploying a mobile work environment. Monitoring both the frequency and quality of space use helps to determine the ratio of workspaces to employees that should be planned for a mobile work environment. Identifying how many unassigned seats should be shared is the ultimate goal. A conservative mobile work ratio would be 1 to 2 — one workspace for every two employees. A more aggressive goal for mobility, where 70 to 90 percent of staff are mobile, would lean toward a 1 to 4 or 1 to 5 ratio.
For example, many cloud-based technology companies are carefully studying their utilization rates and drawing the conclusion that a formal mobile work strategy is not only logical, but in sync with their missions and corporate philosophies. Given that so much of their work product is stored remotely, they view their mobile work strategy as one that enables them to optimize their real estate portfolio, expand talent recruitment, and align with their growth trajectory.
The two most common business drivers for considering a mobile work program are real estate and human resources. On the real estate end, if business operations can be achieved efficiently and productively in a smaller footprint, the cost savings is an obvious inducement. From the HR perspective, companies that are committed to a work environment that supports and promotes a higher degree of work-life balance are very appealing to job candidates.
As more work functions and activities become “mobile friendly,” it is easier to appreciate why both management and staff alike would embrace a remote work arrangement. On the business level, it expands their ability to recruit and retain top talent that may not be geographically within commuting distance. On the employee level, especially those working within global corporations with locations in various time zones, it enables them to work productively the hours that are most effective for their functions.
Rethinking the workplace
Most office environments today are not as ready for a mobile work strategy as the younger tech-sophisticated talent they are recruiting. Many companies still maintain a workplace design that is now a 50-year-old paradigm of cubes and private offices. This layout, though functional, does not support a more agile and collaborative way of working. For a workplace to support a mobile workforce, it must reflect a certain innovative vitality. The environment should foster and encourage a fresh way of thinking, and provide a variety of space options that cater to employees’ different work styles.
The degree of change to the work environment relates directly, however, to the corporate commitment to mobility. A business that is willing to launch a company-wide mobile work policy has a very different challenge than a company that has defined only a small percentage of the workforce as eligible for remote work.
Part 2: FMs Should Consider Two Common Mobile Workplace Methodologies
There are two common workplace methodologies for designing a mobile workplace: immersive and connected. While there are similarities, each concept is distinctly different.
The “immersive approach” is designed to support a business model where space is defined within every department to accommodate remote workers. These spaces are designed to be similar to the company’s standard work setting but are scaled down in size to reflect a shorter stay requirement. The idea behind an immersive plan is to place visiting remote staff where they can socially connect with peers when they are in the office, promoting a higher degree of communication and collaboration among teams. Boston-based Iron Mountain, a provider of storage and information management solutions, adopted this approach to enable its mobile workforce to feel integrated with colleagues when in the office. Businesses whose mobile work strategy is driven by unexpected staff growth often deploy this planning model as it is simpler and less expensive to achieve.
When a company introduces a “connected work” program, it is often a response to having a much higher percentage of remote workers. This approach typically reflects an activity-based design model and does not assign traditional work settings for remote workers. The anticipation is that remote workers, when at the workplace, will identify their own space needs based upon the work that they will be accomplishing during their time in the office. For example, if an employee is in the workplace specifically to meet with co-workers, for training, or to work on a special equipment-oriented task, that person may not necessarily need or want a traditional office or workstation to accomplish those tasks.
Philips North America, a health and well-being company focused on healthcare, consumer lifestyle, and lighting, chose the connected work approach when it introduced its workplace innovation model in its Andover, Mass., office. In adopting a completely address-free design strategy, the company empowered employees to decide what type of space was most efficient and desirable for their specific needs. In most cases, a connected work strategy is supported by base staff and technology that enables the reservation of space ahead of time.
Companies with a workforce that is geographically disconnected often develop leasing relationships with shared, co-working spaces such as WeWork, Workbar, and Regus. These facilities provide functionally versatile work environments for remote workers who, when necessary, require more advanced business tools or meeting space than they have in their homes. As the percentage of mobile workers increases, the demand for these types of satellite support spaces has grown exponentially. WeWork alone has 23,000 customers and more than 32 separate locations occupying more than five million square feet. These co-working spaces often engage in a sublease profit-sharing agreement with landlords, which increases their desirability as a tenant.
For the company that chooses to adapt its own work environment to accommodate a mobile workforce, there are several key factors to consider:
1. Preservation of culture. Every business has a certain ethos that is unique to who it is and what makes it succeed. It is critically important that any change to a work environment supports the company’s brand and philosophy. Change of any kind is difficult, and environmental change can be disruptive — or transformative. A well thought out design execution for mobile work space should integrate elements of the business culture through careful consideration of location, branding, and adjacencies to common social spaces.
2. Technology. For a mobile work space to succeed, it must support the way people work, and technology plays a critical role in this effort. At a minimum, a work environment should provide a strong Wi-Fi signal that allows all workers to access the business network wherever they are within the office. Additionally, a successful design should ensure that each workspace be equipped with an easy-to-use digital display. The proper placement of accessible computers and AV-ready conferencing technology will enable both individual and collaborative activity. Not to be neglected is the importance of digital security. Companies with expanded ease of digital access must find the appropriate balance between protection of intellectual property and convenience of use for its employees.
3. Meeting space. Mobile workers, who are not regularly connected to their colleagues, will inevitably want to spend a larger portion of their in-office time reconnecting face-to-face with their peers. To accommodate that, a workspace should support a larger percentage of various sized meeting spaces. While enclosure is optimal for most meetings, it should be noted that not all meetings are of a highly confidential nature. Common spaces, huddle areas, lounges, and dining areas can also serve this function handily if meeting technology is readily accessible.
4. Quiet space. Working in a space that reflects a high degree of interaction or collaboration may support a team-based work style, but it will not provide the necessary environment for task-intensive, concentrative work. A work environment should serve a variety of tasks and work style needs, so small work rooms or “library” spaces should be designated for quiet, heads-down work.
5. Power and connectivity. Mobile workers will enter the work environment with a host of devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones. These tools are essential to the way they perform their work. Unfortunately, most offices are not designed to support charging all these battery-powered devices at once. In order for the space to become truly functional, careful thought should be given to providing multiple charging stations at convenient locations throughout the office.
Mobile work environments, whether designed initially or adapted after the fact, can be highly productive space as long as they are specifically planned to accommodate the unique needs of the staff who will use them. Thoughtful advance utilization analysis and design execution will yield a successful result.
Part 3: Mobile Workforce Raises HR Questions
The obstacles to establishing and implementing mobile work policy often fall under the HR umbrella. Deciding who should and should not be identified for mobile work can often open a Pandora’s box of subjective measurements. According to Diane Stegmeier, CEO of Stegmeier Consulting Group, “determining which or how many staff can work effectively from a remote location, participate in on-campus mobility, or enroll in flexible work arrangements must take into account three primary factors: personal competencies, job role, and social needs.” These factors are universal to almost every vertical market and should be considered in the decision making of an employee’s eligibility for mobile work.
From a work process perspective, companies need to formally change their practice of monitoring an employee based upon day-to-day work habits, and begin to evaluate employees on their work product instead. By shifting the focus from observed to achieved performance, as well as establishing expectations and productivity goals, management is better positioned to evaluate an employee’s mobile effectiveness. This change in thinking is often foreign to most managers, and a certain degree of change management must take place in order to help transition them from more traditional ways of employee evaluation.
Joe Flynn, CFM, LEED AP, is a senior associate and workplace strategist at Margulies Perruzzi Architects. He can be reached at jflynn@mp-architects.com. The firm services the healthcare, corporate, professional services, research and development, and real estate communities.
Originally published in High-Profile Monthly. By Jenna Meyers
October 24, 2016 – The design industry loves buzzwords to describe office design: workspace that is flexible, collaborative, innovative, agile, and sustainable, to name a few. These are popular words in our industry lexicon because they define many of the sought-after trends that have been sweeping the design scene for the last decade. However, over time these words have become so commonplace that their original intentions and meanings have become diluted. One of the best examples of this is the phrase: “workplace strategy.” The concept has received a lot of buzz and research; clients know they need it. But what really is it and why is it so powerful?
Workplace strategy focuses on marrying three important aspects of the modern workplace: 1) applying better space utilization metrics, 2) optimizing real estate costs, and 3) updating an office space to meet current design trends. However, none of that really means anything unless a workplace is designed correctly. Simply put: workplace strategy is first and foremost about people. A company can have the most streamlined business model and the coolest looking office, but if the space isn’t uniquely designed to suit specific employees and the way they work best, then odds are, the company won’t be operating at maximum productivity and efficiency.
Behind every successful company are engaged employees who have all the tools they need to do their job the best they can. Wouldn’t every company like this to be true? Having engaged employees means having a workforce that is excited about the work they do and the company they do it for. For employers, this results in less staff turnover, greater productivity, and increased employee satisfaction. This is why harnessing the energy of a successful workplace strategy is so important.
Take the concept of the open office. It seems like the perfect facility management solution: reducing the number of private offices results in lower build-out and real estate costs, and an open and transparent work environment can help to foster communication and collaboration among staff. Yet, the open office concept is constantly challenged as being distracting and even disruptive, prompting some to point to unintended consequences such as lower productivity and employee dissatisfaction. However, in most cases, it’s not the concept of the open office that is at fault; the error is in the execution and implementation of designing – and preparing people to work in – an open office. To create a successful workspace environment (open office or not), designers need to be attentive listeners to understand how people work, and then design a space that allows them to be as productive as they can.
Case in point: the design of a new North American office for Cimpress, the world leader in mass customization and its well-known brand Vistaprint. Outgrowing its office in Lexington, Mass., Cimpress decided to move to 275 Wyman Street in Waltham and selected Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA) to design an energetic workplace that would inspire creativity, encourage employee empowerment, and promote its culture of change. Cimpress’ previous workspace had an ‘open office’-style culture, and the company was keen to evaluate the concept of a 100 percent flexible workspace to improve upon it.
However, after testing several mock-up designs, Cimpress and the design team recognized that due to the technology and infrastructure required, this concept would end up being more of a hindrance for employees. Instead, Cimpress and MPA modified its approach, outfitting each workstation with a sit-to-stand desk for individual flexibility and creating several alternate workspaces such as quiet rooms and open collaboration areas. Cimpress successfully followed the golden rule of any open office concept: if you take office features away – be it private offices or workstation panel height – you must give something back in return. In this case, the addition of several types of quiet spaces for heads-down work helped mitigate the issue of distractions in the open office.
By taking the time to understand its workforce, Cimpress was able to implement an effective workplace strategy that resulted in an office designed with an eye toward talent recruitment, retention and satisfaction – in other words, its people.
Jenna Meyers, IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED AP, is a senior interior designer at Margulies Perruzzi Architects.
New Industry Standard Spotlights Health Implications
Originally published in Banker & Tradesman. By Janet Morra
June 26, 2016 – We have all become familiar with LEED certification, a third-party rating system designed to document levels of sustainability in buildings. Another new rating system has now emerged, called the WELL Building Standard, which is designed to document levels of wellness supported by those buildings. Where LEED is focused primarily on building performance, WELL is focused on occupants’ wellness and comfort.
While there are some similarities between the rating systems – for example, both are rated by the same third-party organization (GBCI), have a similar structure, rate projects as Silver, Gold or Platinum, and provide accreditation to trained professionals, there are a few major differences. Unlike LEED, the WELL Building Standard certification includes performance verification made by an authorized “assessor” who physically inspects and tests the facility. And unlike LEED, WELL performance must be re-verified every three years in order to maintain certification.
Choosing to gain WELL certification for your facility is certainly a major decision, most typically undertaken at the time of new construction or renovation. What if you would like to dip a toe into the water and find some lower-impact ways that would allow you to improve the level of wellness in your office today?
The WELL Standard is divided into seven categories or concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. Each concept contains numerous features that identify areas of concern (102 in all). Here is a suggestion from each of the seven concepts for changes you can make without committing to a major renovation project or incurring major costs:
-Air: Cleaning Protocol (Feature #09). In order to maintain a healthy indoor environment, create and follow a written cleaning protocol with more frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces (such as light switches and keyboards) and use non-toxic cleaning products throughout.
Water: Drinking Water Promotion (Feature #37). To promote proper hydration throughout the day (and reduce dependence on bottled water), provide a filtered water dispenser within 100 feet of all occupied areas. Clean on a daily basis.
-Nourishment: Mindful Eating (Feature #57). Promote better eating habits and reduce stress by providing dedicated eating areas to encourage employees to leave their desks at mealtimes. Provide a refrigerator, sink, microwave, eating utensils, cleaning supplies and seating for 25 percent of occupants.
-Light: Visual Lighting Design (Feature #58). Provide targeted task lighting at work areas and avoid over-lighting in general areas.
-Fitness: Activity Incentive Programs (Feature #65). Provide incentives to increase employees’ level of activity, such as subsidies for gym memberships, sports team membership or bike sharing programs.
-Comfort: Ergonomics – Visual and Physical (Feature #73). Encourage employees to use a variety of sitting and standing postures. All computer screens should be on adjustable mounts and at least 30 percent of work surfaces should be height adjustable. There are a variety of reasonably priced desk top surfaces that can be used instead of replacing the actual furniture. Seating should also be easily adjustable and ergonomically featured.
-Mind: Altruism (Feature #96). Promote a feeling of well-being and community connections by supporting charitable activities. Offer paid time off for staff to volunteer for community charities or activities. Participating in charitable team activities will also create an enhanced sense of bonding among staff members.
Clearly, there are many more ways to increase and promote wellness within your organization. The advantage to a program like the WELL Building Standard is that it provides clear direction and independent verification. At the moment, the program is very new, and in fact there are only eight certified buildings in the U.S. to date. But much like the acceptance of LEED, it is easy to see WELL quickly catching on as a way for companies to demonstrate their commitment to wellness to employees, new recruits and customers alike.
Further information about this new rating system can be found at www.wellcertified.com.
Janet Morra, AIA, LEED AP, is a principal and partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects.
