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Insight
Home Insights Why your office design should be based on research
If you’re looking to design a new office, a design based on research in-conjunction with workplace consultancy could help you get more from your fit out.
Ashley Skinner
Workplace Consultant
Monday, 23rd April 2018
3 minutes read time
At last the big office refurb has been signed off! The MD has appointed you to lead the internal project team to make it happen, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what the business needs, or at least you thought you did… The problem is, that the more you talk to people, the more you realise that everyone has got a different idea about what ‘good’ looks like. The design team want more meeting spaces – but the office manager says the meeting rooms are often empty. The HR team says you need more desks, but the sales team are hardly ever there. By the time you add in the other requests for a new staff restaurant, a dedicated video conferencing suite and a large communal meeting space, you soon realise that you’re going to need either a lot more space or a different plan! This is where workplace consultancy comes into its own.
Workplace consultants are fact-finding experts who take the time to discover how your business works from the inside. They use a range of tools and techniques like time utilisation studies, interviews and employee surveys to find out how and where the people in your business actually work, their behaviours and your culture. This removes any assumptions of what you think you need and replaces it with facts. Workplace consultants can then analyse this information to develop a sustainable workplace strategy that will be used to define your office design or fit out brief. This brief is then translated by the workplace and design teams and used to create an inspirational workplace that meets the business’ actual requirements and long-term goals, beyond day one.
It’s not just about space planning. Getting into the mindset of the people working in your organisation can help you understand what kind of workspace is going to motivate your teams. Do they need writable walls to capture their ideas? Is technology and agile working the way forward? Will a ping pong table be a big hit or a double-fault? By creating a detailed workplace strategy, workplace consultancy can help you to create workspaces that will inspire, boost creativity and productivity, and attract talent.
Of course every day offices are designed without the help from a workplace consultant. But taking an evidence-based approach to office design and refurbishment, combined with workplace change management, is the best way to ensure that your finished office meets the needs of everyone – not just the few.
This can ultimately drive employee engagement and ensure that your new office space delivers everything that your business needs - both now and in the future.
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