We all deserve to work for an organization where we actually WANT, not NEED to show up to work each day. But for some reason, regardless of how much money we spent on employee engagement programs, the needle never moves, how come?
No matter where employees work, the physical space plays an important role and accounts for 30% of their overall experience–no matter if they work in an office, a store, or at home.
There has been an ongoing debate around open versus closed office spaces and which one is better. Open offices tend to enable collaboration, yet they are also prone to cause distractions and noise. Closed offices and cubicles tend to allow for more focused work, but they can also be a bit depressing and not encourage collaboration and communication. So which one do you go with? […]
There are three key environments that make up the employee experience: technology, culture, and the physical space. I explore all three in my latest book, but let’s talk about the physical space, or the place where employees actually work. This is our surroundings and includes everything from the art that hangs on the wall to the catered meals the organization may offer to the cubicles or open floor plan employees may sit in. It comprises 30% of the employee experience. […]
Cubicles, open design, work perks—there are lots of things to consider in an office space, and they all play a huge role in how employees work and the culture of a company. This week we discussed what office spaces will look like in the future and how many organizations are already taking steps to make their spaces more modern. […]
Although most people don’t think about it this way, your organization’s physical workspace is a symbol. What does your symbol reflect to employees and outsiders? […]
Many organizations are experimenting with new physical space designs. Management structures need to be redesigned to go along with these new office spaces, but this often gets overlooked. Why is this necessary? When organizations are originally designed, they reflect how managers actually manage. Thinking about a traditional cubical environment, employees and managers are used to private working time, and not a lot of open collaboration during the work day. If this environment was redesigned to be an open space, then management and employees will struggle keeping the same work habits in the new space. […]
When you think about designing your house and floor plan, you consider how every room has a different purpose. You eat in the dining room, cook in the kitchen, lounge in the living room, shower in the bathroom, sleep in the bedroom, and you may even have outdoor living spaces that serve different purposes like relaxing or al fresco dining. So when we are designing our physical office spaces, why don’t we take the same approach? There is a lot of debate over having an open versus closed office floor plan, but those debates are missing the point. […]
I define “employee experience” as an organization creating a place where people want to show up instead of assuming that people need to show up. This shift from “need” to “want” is the fundamental change that organizations around the world are starting to experience. This is why we see so much investment in new offices spaces, health and well-being programs, maternity and paternity leave, healthy foods, workplace flexibility, and so much more. There are a lot of things that can go into creating an employee experience but the good news is that every single company regardless of their industry, geography, or size, only need to focus on three things. […]
This is part of a series of posts exploring the employee experience, that is, creating a place where employees actually want to show up, not where they need to show up. This series will explore what I define as the three employee experience environments that all organizations much focus on which are: physical, cultural, and technological. This is a growing area that I am extremely passionate about because it sees organizations shifting away from thinking of work as a utility to actually focusing on creating what Pat Wadors (the chief Human Resources Officer of LinkedIn) calls “beautiful experiences.” […]