Get Strategic. Future-proof your Workplace.

The workplace is a company’s physical, social and digital platform for operating, designed to support successful working. Meanwhile, the nature of work, what we do and with whom keeps changing constantly. Whether you are an office or facility manager, HR director or CEO – it may be smart to take the long view and understand how the workplace plays a key role in an organization’s success, as you evolve and change structures, strategies and ways of working. It pays off to be prepared, as more and more workplaces have begun to adapt flexible ways of working.

In a new series of blogposts called “Get Smart!” I aim to discuss smart workplace strategies, continuing from where I left off in the previous series, called “Mobilize!” In this first part of a series of blogs, I want to encourage discussion about creating a long-term, adaptive and resilient workplace strategy. At the same time I hope our own workplace relocation project, “Resilient Rapal” can serve as a small-scale illustrative example of what has worked for us.

Prepare for continuous future success

The only thing certain, is an uncertain future – especially in today’s marketplace and digitized, global business world where not only technological disruption can take you by surprise, but increasingly so changes in national and global politics, legislation, the economy, and the effects from climate change - just to name a few. In a world like that, the traditional 5-year planning cycle now requires a higher degree of adaptability, for sustainable success.

“Our People are our Greatest Asset” is a claim many companies make. But do they walk the talk? When times get rough, how often do you not see companies terminating their personnel long before terminating their leases for office spaces that were under-utilized to begin with? How often do you not see workplaces that neglect to empower people to do their best at work, by not providing a working environment and sufficient tools that help boost their performance, wellbeing and satisfaction at work?

Increasingly, the best strategies are adaptive – and that goes for workplaces too. They are also more and more focused on people and culture, values and the bigger mission - in addition to products, services and business. Whereas company structures, processes, products, brands, logos, company colors and slogans can change at a fast pace, it is the corporate culture and identity that can be strengthened by a solid, resilient yet flexible workplace strategy.

How to get started

Get organized, then set the agenda. Strategic workplace management begins by joining forces between traditionally separate functions such as Human resources, ITC, Health and Safety, Communications & marketing, Legal & CSR, Finance, and Real Estate. This inter-disciplinary team of experts is typically lead by a Workplace Manager role. Her aim is to ensure that all aspects of the workplace are aligned for optimizing operational excellence.

Before you embark on defining your own workplace strategy, I would like to point out that setting targets for the workplace should also be aligned to your own company culture and strategy – not just operational performance. Don’t copy-paste “office types” or workplaces of other companies you’ve seen - as other organizations tend to do different things, with different people, in different ways than your own. You should support your own people and processes – and for that you need to use fact-based decision-making, evidence-based design, an engaging and involving change process - and to consider what is unique for you and where you operate. To that end, you’ll also need to define the key metrics that will drive your workplace strategy and workplace development. For example, if sustainability and fighting climate change is on your agenda, then maybe workplace metrics can include metrics connected to commutes to work and travel or how much space you actually need and use.

Whether a novice or experienced Workplace Manager, it can in many cases be useful to enlist the help of professionals for parts of the process of defining your new workplace strategy. Workplace consultancy is a rapidly growing field of expertise that can help you with facilitating the process. They can help you clarify and define a long list of things to consider, including:

• Devising a flex work strategy and remote work policy. This is the most important cultural step to take. It also will need to take into account ITC policies, occupational health & security issues, 24/7 insurance coverage, remote work agreements, work hours, availability, use of online meeting tools, how to work with the team...read more on how to get started with flexwork here.
• Location, location, location (of your core space): where are your customers, your workforce, sales and production located? Are connections good for all employees to get the best people, are good services nearby? Does the building have a flexible layout for optimizing and changing the concept over time? Does the building fulfil international wellness and environmental standards, as well as your company image?
• Flex space: can you expand your thinking and definition of "workplace" to include home offices, networks of coworking spaces, and third spaces such as cafés, hotels, trains, airports and office spaces provided by eg. customers and partners? Could providing and offering memberships to flex spaces help people in their work, save them time and money from commuting while increasing wellbeing?
• Prognosis of personnel count
• Your space utilization, now and scenarios for the future
• Baseline space needs (square meters, sq.ft)
• Interdependencies and connections between units and people
• Mobility profiles: office external and internal work
• Typical work modes / ratios of different modes of work (collaboration, individual work etc.)
• Typical group sizes in meetings, meeting culture
• Space distribution and allocation, and zoning within the office
• Needs for scalability and flexibility in lease agreements
• Paper and other location fixed attributes vs. degree of digitalization and online & mobile tools
• Define the culture and mood you are aiming for in your spaces
• Crystallizing your identity, what “Our Story” really is
• Help in bringing out tangible artefacts and tech, collectibles. etc to bring the culture alive
• Your digital workplace solutions and tech needs
• Flexibility needs for modifying your office every 6-12 months, eg. by using movable space-in-space solutions (such as meeting booths, phone booths and drop-in pods) or leasing furniture-as-a-service that can easily be changed and updated.

Lot’s to consider, and then some. However, don’t delegate your process entirely to consultants. Change and strategy should be lead from within to gain commitment and use insights only you have.

Case: Rapal’s future-proof workplace

Let’s have a look at our own 2019 relocation, a fairly small and simple case where the need for change management and cultural change was small. Rapal has been working flexibly for years already, offering a culture of trust to work from anywhere, anytime. For instance, Rapal offers employees access to a network of co-working locations as a supplement to its optimized core spaces at the head office. It’s subsidiary Optimaze, Inc. has operated within shared flex spaces in San Francisco for many years, allowing flexibility to adjust. It also encourages to hold meetings at external locations rather than inside our own leased space. Tools and policies support this kind of flexible working too. So no dramatic change was foreseeable in our case, as it also is our day job to help others develop their workplaces.

Still, here’s a few glimpses into our own workplace renewal process of 2019, noting that a lot of the needed expertise for a workplace change and renewal was available in-house among our own workplace management team:

• We reviewed HR data, forecasts and previously conducted personnel surveys
• We discussed workplace metrics, and which especially to connect the workplace change to (eg. attraction & recruitment, retention, workplace experience and employee satisfaction)
• We conducted personal interviews within the management team and key stakeholders
• We gathered continuous space utilization sensor data using our Optimaze Worksense –smart office solution
• We used quarterly observational data on space use, office work activities and group formation with Optimaze Measure
• We analyzed our internal meeting room booking calendars, as well as external meeting space usage
• We conducted two workplace surveys aimed at the entire personnel, ranging from location preferences, ways of working and mobility profiling to mood board voting
• We arranged an open workshop to discuss the new common rules and targets for our new workplace
• We created a baseline space program for office space search, and concept definition and a concept testfit onto a floorplan
• We formulated the overall design ambitions, and made a design brief (see my next blog post)

In my next blog, I will share more details on the design brief that emerged from this process. Along with a familiar reminder about workplace goal setting and strategy: culture eats the proverbial strategy for breakfast. Thus, how you define your future workplace concept should primarily be focused on fostering the kind of culture, behaviors and attitudes you want to see.

Get Smart! Future-proof for resilient, effective and sustainable workplaces!