A new workplace study entitled, “Disproving Widespread Myths about Workplace Design,” conducted by The Buffalo Organization for Social and Technological Innovation (BOSTI Associates) calls into question some conventional wisdom about workplace design.
An early release of BOSTIs findings is being supported and distributed by Kimball International, as a service to facilities managers, business executives, designers and other stakeholders in high-performance workplaces. The survey is based on the findings of research done between 1994 and 2000 of approximately 13,000 people in 40 business units.
Some of the survey premises for today’s workplace include:
- Current workplaces are often a poor fit for the new work.
- Office work can be and should be deployed over larger business geographies, continuing the erosion of many downtowns.
- People can use an array of work locations (like satellite offices) and others, which are not owned or leased, such as employee’s homes, airline clubs and hotels.
The booklet also discusses “new officing,” formerly called “alternative officing” as a strategy for working smarter. The three common practices of new officing include: radical redesign (increased emphases on effective group work), work-from-anywhere; (work from home or satellite work sites, which can reduce space substantially) and hotelling (the office is still the base for work, but much of it happens elsewhere.)
The costs of doing work
One of the important trends concerning the cost of doing work involves the heightened role of technology in todays workplace. An earlier, well-publicized analysis by the BOSTI Group revealed that over a ten-year period, (1968-1978) 92 percent of all money spent to achieve a companys mission went towards salaries; 2 percent to maintain and operate the building and 6 percent for the costs of the building the facility new, and buying furnishings and office equipment.
Technology costs, however, have since risen to the forefront, and in the current 1998-2008 calculation, technology costs—supplying electronic equipment, software, infrastructure and training—now surpass facilities costs.
How important is workplace?
The design of the workplace plays an important role in recruiting and maintaining a quality workforce, maintains the survey. However two seemingly contradictory workplace scenarios emerged: an environment supporting distraction-free work and an environment that cultivates interaction with co-workers. In an ideal workplace, maintains BOSTI, both of these design priorities would exist without compromising the other.
By eliminating some of the myths of workplace design, maintains the survey, business leaders should no longer feel stuck between choosing the noise level of an open office and the isolation of closed workspaces.
The solution
Careful workplace design can accommodate distraction-free work and inter-office communication, maintains BOSTI. Such a facility would include:
- Workspaces that are acoustically private and small
- Common areas where traffic does not run through group-use spaces.
As examples of this type of office design, the survey cited Deloitte & Touche’s Pittsburgh consulting office and the GSA, Public Building Service, Region 9, in San Francisco, Calif.
Copies of the survey findings are available by contacting your local Kimball Office Furniture sales representative or via e-mail. The subject line of E-mail requests should read: “BOSTI study.” In the body of the email, include your name and title, business name and mailing address.
