Can the shape of your workspace define your success?

Asking better questions now can ensure your workspace is fit for purpose in a future that’s still taking shape.

Authors:
Christina Beja, Associate Partner, EY Canada Real Estate Strategy and Transactions
Jeff Wood, Partner, EY Canada Real Estate Strategy and Transactions

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to getting workspaces right as we shift from crisis to recovery. So where do you begin? Asking these three questions as you redefine your workspace for what comes next is your first step to providing flexibility and safety while fostering productivity:

1.   What do our people really need?

Flexible and agile work arrangements are more than a piece of your business continuity plan. They’re now an amenity your employees will expect. Cull through the knowledge you’ve picked up this spring and tap into the employee experience to understand:

• What tools helped people succeed remotely?
• What did people miss the most?
• How did organizational culture withstand the shift?
• What will enhance community and connection if people remain offsite?

Maybe you were already offering remote work arrangements before the crisis. Perhaps this was your company’s first experiment with virtual teaming. Either way, this work-from-home period represents a wealth of insight you can — and should — bake into future plans.

2.   What options can we offer for how and where we work?

Providing people with choices will be very important to your future workspace strategy. Cultivating two-way dialogue with your people can help you flesh out the parameters for those scenarios and uncover:

• What kind of work needs to be accomplished in a certain location? What kind of work is more adaptable?
• Will hybrid schedules and solutions allow people to accomplish heads-down work wherever they concentrate best?
• How can physical and virtual spaces nurture connectivity and innovation?

Empowering employees to manage their time and capitalize on their own peak periods of focus helps some people dial down stress. Others need more opportunities to collaborate and connect with colleagues to stay engaged. Defining which work arrangements are reasonable for your organization and your employees can help you design workspaces with your ultimate end user in mind.

3.   What changes do we need to make in our physical offices?

From major to minor, chances are your workspace needs some changes to ensure people can work safely and effectively when they return to your offices. Whether you’re assessing the viability of agile space or reverting to more traditional spaces, thinking through these key factors can help you reimagine a workspace fit for organizational purpose in this era:

• Do current setups meet physical distancing requirements?
• Should seating plans and workstations change before people return to the office?
• Which health and safety protocols must ramp up so people feel confident working in the office?
• Have space requirements shifted?

No two offices are created equal. Using this opportunity to assess what makes your organization unique and designing specifically for your team’s needs will be critical as we move into this next phase.

How will workspaces grow from here?

Embracing this opportunity to re-evaluate workspace needs and provide employees with more choice going forward allows you to align productivity, business strategy and corporate culture. Putting people at the heart of your holistic approach can drive the kind of workspace transformation that will keep on working for you, even as your reality continues to change.