SCHOOL DAYS AND AGILE WAYS? Is the agile working revolution a blast from your past?

Think back to your primary school days. You were encouraged to be creative, to work play and to learn not by constant confinement to your desk – very much a Victorian notion - but by structured freedom. Yes, you had a classroom, but it was divided into different areas for different activities. There might have been a table for writing at, but you would also get to sit on the carpet and in the book corner for registration and story time. You had a dressing up corner for creative play, while the school hall or school field was the area for physical exercise. Plus, on a hot day, I bet there was great excitement when your teacher suggested taking your work or activity outside, enabling you to concentrate in a cooler environment. Senior school and University were similarly varied – you made use of different environments for different tasks. 

In other words, you worked in an AGILE way in your formative years because that way you were stimulated to get more done, more efficiently. So, it really isn’t surprising that the confines of a traditional workplace office in our adult lives can be stifling, and can contribute to a decline in our mental health and well-being.

So, in today’s workplace, is there a way we can reconnect with the freedom and capacity for work that we once enjoyed? Could Agile Working be the answer?

IN A 'NUTSHELL’ – WHAT IS AGILE WORKING?

Sometimes referred to as ‘Activity Based Working’, this is a way in which an organisation empowers its people to work where, when and how they choose – with maximum flexibility and minimum constraints. 

Workers, equipped with the right IT support, are given greater autonomy – they can work in different settings within the office, at home or elsewhere. They become dynamic rather than static, and meanwhile, businesses can find that they can need 15-20% less office space – meaning that they can grow within the space they already have or reduce costs by renting less of it.

Agile Working brings people, process, technology, time and place together to determine the best way to complete a given task. Agile Working puts the focus on the endgame, trusting staff to be productive, in contrast to the traditional approach of being seen to be sat at the same desk working. This doesn’t mean an end to supervision or management, but a different way of doing it.

The aim of agile working is simply to create a more responsive, efficient and effective organisation, which ultimately improves business performance.

THE BREAK-OUT SPACE DESIGN

If you create great break-out spaces staff will use them. By designing these spaces to be multi-functional, i.e. they can be used for other purposes outside of lunchtime hours, they are no longer wasted or expensive spaces. Designed correctly, they can turn a traditional office cafeteria into a destination for connection, collaboration, focus and innovation.

A break-out area needn’t be extravagant or even take up much space. Screens and furniture can be used to section and divide up spaces. Soft furnishings, such as lounge style chairs or sofas, can help employees feel relaxed and comfortable.

Booths incorporating laptop ports or TV monitors can be a popular choice when designing break-out areas as they provide not only a place to relax and eat, but also privacy for informal meetings or quiet working.

THE AGILE WORK SPACE

By creating a variety of workplace settings to support daily tasks within the office we can ensure staff have complete freedom and flexibility.

These spaces can be traditional desks, but could also include agile work benches, huddle spaces, quiet rooms, collaboration zones, quiet work areas, well-being spaces, informal meeting spaces or multi-functional breakout areas. Basically, the whole office becomes the work area, not just the desk!

Businesses that have embraced agile working report an increase in productivity, as individuals are able to choose to work in the work space that most suits the task at hand. It means that when they need to get together with colleagues, they aren’t limited to a few meeting rooms and when they need to focus, they can find somewhere quiet to work.

Agile working doesn’t suit every task, or every business, and where it is used, employers and employees have to recognise that a true top-to-bottom culture-shift is needed to get the best from it. But make no mistake, it does represent the future for many organisations who haven’t yet woken up to its advantages.

Take a look at the how we recently created an Agile Workplace for Orbit Housing...

Orbit Housing - Agile Workplace Design - Click here

CONCLUSION

Agile working is not just a fancy new term for hot-desking. Nor is it a covert way for employers to reduce costs. It is so much more than this. It is a revolutionary way of thinking about the way in which workers who would traditionally have found themselves tied to one office space can now be freed to complete their tasks more effectively and flexibly, benefiting both them and their employers. Recent studies have estimated that 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don't yet exist…. That’s only 10-15 years away! Most companies take 5-10 years leases on property, so we need to be ready for change now. Surely workplace design needs to evolve and have fluidity to easily adapt to the future. Agile working gives you this. Get the foundations right and you can be sure that by the time your new office interior is complete, you’ll be well on track to get real return on your investment.

Hi Design ‘work spaces that work’

WELLNESS AT WORK

Mental Health was a hot topic during the month of May - it was particularly at the forefront of people’s minds attracting huge media attention. We had ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’ and this week brings stress-relieving ‘Massage At Work Week’. 

Various high-profile figures have been talking openly about their own battles with mental health. HRH Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, Stephen Fry, Jameela Jamil, Katie Perry and Alesha Dixon, led the second annual ‘Mental Health Minute’, an initiative launched last year in order to encourage and support conversations around mental health. Over 300 radio stations joined in to kick off Mental Health Awareness Week and share an important mental health message. This year’s theme was all about the importance of listening, and the difference we can make to someone when we take the time to stop and to listen.

It’s thanks to campaigns like ‘Mental Health Minute’ and information becoming more widely available that the stigma attached to talking about mental health is declining rapidly. As a result, this is also affecting the workplace - employees are being open with their employers about their mental health and employers are realising that wellness at work and productivity walk hand in hand!

Wellness at Work

Mental ill health is estimated to cost the UK economy £94bn a year according to recent OECD figures. At the same time, the Mental Health Foundation charity calculates that policies addressing wellbeing at work increase productivity by as much as 12%.

75% of us believe that our work environment has a negative impact on our wellbeing and productivity. Considering that we spend most of our waking hours at work it really shouldn’t come as a surprise! In fact, on average we spend 42 hours a week at work.

What do we mean by the work environment?

Well, it encompasses everything from the type and quantity of work, the people, culture and the actual physical workspace.

When it came to designing offices in the mid to late 20th century, the word ‘productivity’ was traditionally the watch word. Designs were open-plan to maximise headcount per square foot, creating environments not unlike battery farms. Over the last five years this has increasingly changed and just as ‘Wellbeing at Work’ is becoming a key factor in employee retention and attracting new talent, it is now also a central consideration for many workplace designers and their clients, eager to explore the benefits of innovative practices such as agile working for instance.  

Psychology-based insights are significantly contributing to a reshaping of the workplace by helping us to understand how the environment & interiors can impact healthy, happy, empowered, collaborative and productive people.

Here at Hi Design we always consider the emotional needs of staff when designing a workplace. We believe that by providing staff with a choice of work settings (from quiet work areas, collaboration zones and social space) it empowers them, giving back control, which as we know is an important factor in achieving good mental health.

So once we’ve created a great place to work, what practical steps can we take to encourage wellness? What about massage?

Talk to some old-school employers about massage therapy in the workplace and you can expect sniggers and cynicism. And yet there is an increasing body of evidence that a programme of ‘Wellness at Work’ measures, that include massage therapy, can significantly improve productivity, and help in staff retention. For relatively little outlay, we can boost morale, make employees feel restored and happier and see absenteeism dwindle in line with their declining stress levels. No wonder savvy employers are increasingly switching on to the win-win benefits to them and to their staff of short, in-work massage sessions, as they feel the impact on the bottom line from a healthier, more motivated workforce.

Massage Therapy plays a part in the improvement of both physical and mental wellbeing. There are obvious immediate benefits in the relief of conditions like repetitive strain injury or muscle tension for instance, but it is with the respite from stress, no matter how brief, that we can find the greatest benefits. Stress has a huge impact on our body’s immune system and any therapy that helps alleviate it will mean that we becmes less susceptible to colds and viruses. The cost of employee sickness absence in the UK is colossal, as is the wasted time money and resource involved in staff churn when workers feel unhappy and unloved, so therapies that ease fatigue and lower work-related emotional pressures repay massive dividends in the long run.

We’ve all heard about achieving our ideal work-life balance, but what this really means is making an effort to avoid burn-out. Few of us can afford to work 3-day weeks to ensure this, so adoption of strategies that help with physical and mental health while working normal hours have become ever more important.

So what difference would a 15 minute massage really make?

First of all, general health improves. Headaches, back pain, and even blood pressure have all been proven to reduce following massage. Its effects are calming, and levels of serotonin, the so-called ‘happy chemical’ that our body produces naturally, are boosted. Basically, massage makes us feel more positive and cheerful – we are both relaxed but also re-energised, and better equipped to take on the next challenge.

Secondly, the increased blood flow that results from massage has proven positive physiological effects. Energy levels can drop during the working day, often after lunch, when we might reach for the mid-afternoon carb top-up from unhealthy sweets and snacks, just to keep us going. Studies show that we are at our least productive in the afternoon, so a short massage session would re-energise, raise alertness and concentration levels and improve our problem-solving abilities.  The clearer mind we enjoy after massage means fewer mistakes and greater productivity and effectiveness.

Thirdly, there is a subtle psychological benefit that comes from us feeling looked after. As employees we feel well disposed to our employers (we are ‘touched’ in both senses of the word) who have taken the trouble to look after our physical and mental well being. In addition, if we decide to take up the offer of free massage sessions, we achieve a sense of self-empowerment. We know that the greatest stress is felt when we feel like we are trapped in our work, with few choices or any sense of self-determination. Choosing to help ourselves with massage is a great way to really feel like we are taking control over our lives.

Finally, provision of massage therapy goes a long way to changing the culture of the organisations we work for. There is clearly a huge benefit to us if we opt for it, but the sense of physical and mental well being that it creates is contagious. Healthier, happier de-stressed people are much nicer to work with as colleagues!

Thankfully, we are all much more aware these days of the need to strive for better physical and mental health, and none of us need feel any shame in admitting to pain, depression or stress. At Hi Design, we want to create great spaces to work in, spaces that enhance working lives, where people can flourish, not flounder. Where space and budget allow, we will provide for a wellbeing room in our designs, but even if this is not practical, a discretely located meeting room may also be used for massage therapy. Some companies offer quick ‘at desk’ massages services, or even personal massage rollers. At the very least, layouts may be configured to encourage staff to move away from their desks regularly. But good work-place design is only part of the story, and we can think of few measures that can make as big a difference to wellbeing as massage therapy. Go for it, you’ll literally feel the benefit!

Massage therapy is just one aspect of the Wellness at Work idea. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing our insights and experiences of designing spaces to meet the needs of the changing workplace. Through our series of ‘IN A NUTSHELL’ guides, we will give a clear explanation of emerging trends such as AGILE WORKING & BIOPHILIA etc, how they contribute to ‘Wellness at Work’, without losing sight of the bottom line! We will also share our Hi Design ‘Case Studies’ where these concepts have been proven in practice.

We very much look forward to you joining us.

Hi Design “work spaces that work" 

4 workspace must-haves for noise reduction

One of the major arguments going against open plan workspaces is the amount of noise that people are subjected to when working from there. This doesn't go to say that cubicles or partitions are any better, as they tend to let noise in quite easily.

Workspace noise hampers productivity; but it can also hinder collaboration When people are constantly distracted from their work, they can become deeply frustrated, making them less likely to collaborate and socialise with their co-workers. If this is the case, then modern workspaces are far from fulfilling their mission to drive collaboration and innovation. So, how can flexible workspaces enhance their design to reduce noise without compromising their openness? Here are our solutions:

Informal Meeting Areas

These can be located in various corners around a workspace and they serve as small and casual meeting rooms. It is important for these informal meeting areas to be distanced from workstations and desks in order for them to be effective.

Their purpose is to serve as an alternate in which members can host meetings with clients or alternatively with one another in a way that won’t distract or ‘get in the way of’ other members. If necessary, these areas can also have some privacy by including curtains of movable partitions that allow members to choose between an open informal meeting space or a private one.

Breakout Rooms

Designated space where members and co-workers can blow some off steam. They’re characterized by having comfortable couches, ping-pong tables, and the like. These spaces are where members can bond and forget about work for a little and focus on getting to know one another or give themselves a break.

Having breakout rooms in your workspace will contribute to less noise by encouraging members to go to these areas when they feel like they need to talk, take a break, or relax for a little. Proving a space like this is one way to make sure that members still collaborate and get to know one another without disrupting other members’ work time.

Quiet Zones

Think of these as the quiet zones in libraries. Phone and music free areas that will drive concentration and productivity. As in a library, these spaces can also be open planned and with shared desks, as long as your community is respectful of the norms.

Placing ‘no talk’, ‘do not disturb’, and ‘phones not allowed’ signs can potentially help these spaces be more successful in their purpose.

Phone Booths

We all need to take a call at some point during the day. Phone booths are a great noise reduction solution for flexible workspaces, particularly open plan ones. Phone booths provide the privacy and flexibility that members need in order to speak over the phone or have an on-line meeting.

Could relocating your office better suit your brand?

Moving office is not dissimilar to moving house. It can be stressful and filled with a long list of confusing legalities, but it also presents a wonderful opportunity to reinvent your environment and create a space that is fit for purpose and welcoming.

1. Why move?

Consolidation, lease breaks and bringing teams together under one roof, or simply looking for a cheaper rent, are the most common reasons for relocating. However, we’ve noticed another trend that is emerging among both big and small enterprises – companies are now moving their office spaces with the aim of having a place that better represents them and boosts their brand. As the office space can physically represent the type of business you run, the talent you have, and the clients you work with, it holds within it a major competitive advantage, especially if you do it right.

2. Good office design

Of course, there are the obvious benefits. Office relocation has been known to have a positive impact on streamlining working practices and patterns, improving the company’s overall workplace culture, re-energising staff, and attracting and retaining the best possible talent. However, as with moving home, relocation is not for the faint-hearted. There is a lot of detail to consider and a good office design is fundamental to this process.

Firstly, you will need to have a really good understanding of the business and its brand to work out what’s needed. Often senior management will think that it understands what the business needs and this may very well be the case in some instances, but not always.

3. The idea of change

It is worth getting staff involved and doing the necessary legwork before making any final design decisions. Staff engagement during office relocation has always been important, but be sure you don’t scare people by asking too many questions too early on. Instead, allocate team leaders who can relay the necessary information between staff and the design team that will help build up your plan, while sensitively introducing the idea of change to the workforce.

Additionally, doing a bit of investigative work in the first instance can be really useful in developing a workplace strategy. You wouldn’t move into a new home without understanding the new property or how different rooms could be used for different purposes – the same goes for your new office. Once you’ve properly explored your needs and the new location, a workplace strategy can help to outline the parameters and highlight the best opportunities for change.

4. How much space do you need?

As part of this assessment, you may find that the smallest details can actually make a big difference. You may not actually need more meetings rooms, for example. Usually on average, 10 per cent of booked meeting rooms consist of one person conducting a phone call or trying to concentrate on an individual task. Also most meeting rooms are just too big, with only a third of the seats being used in the space. As a result, a lot of businesses are now shifting to social settings, with meetings taking place in coffee-shop style spaces. The same misjudgement can also apply to the actual layout of your desks. Open-plan tends to be the norm, but people can often struggle to concentrate in open-plan environments and this can result in huge productivity loss.

5. Don’t be a copycat 

A hugely important thing to remember is that your brand is your own. One of the biggest mistakes we have seen businesses make is trying to copy what has already been done. It’s easy to become misled by the values of other businesses. Google might be renowned for having a very ‘cool’ and forward-thinking office space, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that its office design would suit your brand. Every company will have its own approach to working practices and, while it’s good to aspire to the values of a respected brand, that’s very different from actually imitating its operational and organisational culture.

10 Steps to a Successful Office Move

Step 1 - Where to start?

The reasons for moving office are many and varied but for the most part are pre-empted by a current lease expiring or a looming lease break. Moving office is a fantastic opportunity to look inwards and determine whether your current offices are fit for purpose, it can cater for any anticipated/future growth or if it is adaptable to changing work practices.

Moving office presents an opportunity for companies to consider exciting changes like:

• Working practices: investigating new ways of working
• Workplace culture: any changes will have an impact on culture, which will need to be pro-actively managed
• Brand identity: a move can be a good time to look at changes to your brand identity, with many companies opting to re-energise their corporate identity alongside a move

All of this can have a huge impact on

• Staff motivation and productivity
• Staff retention and attracting the best talent
• Improved internal communications and collaboration

Step 2 - Build your project team

Most importantly, you need to identify and designate your Senior Project Champion:

This should be a capable and senior individual who commands the authority to make decisions and will drive the project forward. A strong, senior project leader will keep everything - and everyone - on target, minimise delays and inaction, and ensure that the resulting office space closely reflects the initial brief, the company’s brand and any key objectives set out at the beginning.

The next step is to employ a robust and varied internal team to complement and support the project lead. This team of experts should consist of specialists in multiple disciplines from across the business including IT, marketing and HR. Their expertise and input when it comes to things like IT systems, branding, and staff engagement is invaluable.

A highly involved, cross-team approach incorporating a great wealth of expertise is essential when delivering the perfect office space.

Step 3 - Decide on what you want to achieve

• What kind of space do you want to create?
• What is most important to your organisation?
• How do your two answers translate into the perfect office design?

Finding answers to these questions will have the most impact on your budget, as well as any project timescales. Because of this, it is critical to be as realistic as possible with your answers.

Both your new office building and its location need to be put through their paces to ensure they deliver everything your company needs.

You can only inspect a potential workspace if you know what you need from it. This can include:

• Commute times
• Staff parking
• Public transport
• Accessibility
• Local amenities
• Rent costs
• IT/mobile coverage

Once you’ve taken all of these elements into account, you’ll be in a better, more informed position to decide whether or not any new office can meet your requirements.

You can also consult our step-by-step Office Relocation Check-list for an extensive list of preliminary checks.

Step 4 - Approach the right commercial property expert

At this stage, you’ll have formed an all-star project team led by a senior stakeholder, set your location and office building criteria and agreed on a budget. Now, it’s time to research and approach the right commercial property agent to complete your office relocation line-up. Using a reputable agent can make the process - and the lives of your project team - considerably easier.

Set aside some time to research and short-list different options.

• Ask colleagues and clients for recommendations
• Ask for references and testimonials from past clients
• Determine whether they have a good knowledge of the area you are searching in
• Do some online research
• Ensure they have a good grasp of the technical side of commercial property

Working alongside a trustworthy, highly- recommended specialist with strong technical skills, well-founded knowledge of your specified areas, and a transparent fee structure will result in a project with far fewer issues or delays.

Once you have selected an agent, they will help you to short-list available properties matching your criteria, arrange viewings and help you to negotiate the best overall package for any potential new space.

The right commercial property expert should support your project team, ensuring the project is made as effortless as possible.

Step 5 - Select your interior design partner

Once you have selected your new space, the next step is finding an interior design partner. Some partners are design and build and some like ourselves are independent to a fit-out contractor so will design an office that is most suited to you, not what is the easiest to build. Independent interior design partners will also help you to tender a fit-out partner fairly. Consider your prospective partners as an extension of your project team, a specialist capable of designing and delivering to your exacting, detailed standards. They will need to understand your brief, provide the enthusiasm to drive the project forward and possess the expertise to swiftly deal with any challenges your office move may encounter.

Don’t accept a company that cannot work to your vision, as this relationship is absolutely crucial to the success of any office relocation and fit out.Start this process by creating a list of factors and then rank them in order of importance. These could include:

• Knowledge and experience in your sector
• Strong reputation
• Green credentials and sustainability
• Financial stability
• Positive testimonials from past clients

Once your list is finalised, present it to your project team for their input before agreeing on a set of non-negotiable criteria. This will put your team in the best position to approach some firms to enquire about their previous clients. Whittle down your list to three practices, issue your brief and set aside a day for presentations from each of them. You should also look to meet the entire project team at this stage, and do not be afraid to ask the tough questions that will help you make your decision. Proposals should include conceptual ideas that meet your needs and estimated costs to achieve this, but don’t let these be the only deciding factors.

We recommend that you spend some time visiting offices that your prospective partners have designed and delivered for other clients and also some live sites that they are working on to see how they operate.

Don’t focus on minute details at this stage. Designs can easily be tweaked, but be sure that you understand the thinking behind what is presented. The overall designs should meet the brief, even if the colours in the concept don’t match the walls and floors of your ideal office.

Step 6 - Consult, collaborate, and listen

You have appointed your ideal design and build team to take on your brief. Energy and enthusiasm levels are high. Everyone is looking forward to getting their teeth into delivering the project.That’s great, and now is the time to get staff involved and to host workshops with your chosen Design & Build partner and their workplace team so they can…

• Determine how your business operates
• Gain a greater understanding of your business
• Get opinions from across the entire business about what kind of office would work best

Your chosen design and build partner will need to take the time to get to know and understand your business and your employees, and most importantly what they need from the new space.

Creating a culture of ‘no surprises’ from the beginning of the project can help reduce resistance to change, and create a positive buzz around the project.

Engage with staff in the preliminary stages, keep them informed, and present them with opportunities to be part of the process through brainstorming sessions and/or workshops.

Many design and build companies now have in house workplace strategy teams who can arrange consultative workshops with staff to gauge opinions as well as carrying out research and utilisation studies so they can make recommendations that can potentially influence the final office design.

Step 7 - Agreeing on design

Your design team will help you translate your objectives into a design that matches the vision for your business. The various studies undertaken during the workplace phase will help you understand how your staff work, how they use the space, and help you identify what sort of areas you need in your new workplace to support them. Your designer will also help you identify what colour palette, lighting and office furniture is best suited to different areas whilst also making sure it all reflects your brand. This could be by ensuring there are more informal, collaborative areas, better use of desk space, or perhaps smaller private meeting rooms.

This step is also a great opportunity to encourage your staff to work in different ways:

• Could there be more collaboration?
• Do you need to break down internal team silos?
• Does your space need better kitchen facilities?
• Are specialised activity rooms and breakout areas needed?
• What about flexible private workspaces?

By exploring these questions, your design team can work to create the perfect space.

Step 8 - Finalise the project plan

You've selected a design and build partner, consulted staff, received workplace recommendations from the experts and agreed on a final office design, so what next? It’s time to create and agree on a detailed project plan. This needs to include everything, the big and the small: from IT servers and furniture delivery to cardboard boxes. This will allow you and your team to plan when all of the many tasks need to be completed, and ensure everything happens in a timely fashion.It is important to include major milestones in this schedule such as moving IT servers or delivery and installation of new furniture.

Sticking to the plan and its deadlines takes effort from everyone on the project team so it is critical that you make sure timings are realistic, lines of communication are kept open and that you meet and check in with one another regularly. This should include regular site visits to assess progress.

Step 9 - Planning the move

So the design has been approved, your project plan is in place and the delivery team is on site building your new offices. Now it’s time to look at planning the move and working with your project team to ensure it’s a smooth transition.

There is a lot to consider, including:

• Will there be a phased move or will everyone move on the same date?
• Where will staff and different teams be located and seated within the new office (or is it a hot desking workplace)?
• How do you make sure the IT systems and internet are up and running on day one?
• Do staff need cards or keys to access the new building in advance?
• Who is ordering the coffee and tea bags?

It is also important to keep staff informed, so look into sending regular email updates, sharing progress pictures from the new office during the build and make sure all staff know everything they need to know in advance. Remember, no surprises. It may even be worthwhile arranging tours of the new space a few days/weeks in advance to get people used to and excited about the new space.

Step 10 - Move in day

The new office has been handed over on time and looks fantastic. All of the furniture has been installed. All of the IT systems and Internet are working perfectly and staff are arriving and inspecting their new workplace. What next? It is important to pro-actively manage change by having a go-to person for staff to direct questions to about the new office.

Host a welcome breakfast or lunch to ‘introduce’ the new office and look at planning sessions with staff to gather feedback on what they like/dislike about the new work environment.

It may also be worth considering hosting an office party to introduce yourself to your new neighbours and to meet other companies in the building and general vicinity.

It is worth remembering that moving office is a major change and managing this change doesn't end on move in day. We always recommend working with your partner to ensure that the office continues to work for your organisation and any tweaks are ironed out.