As advocates of research to inform and guide workplace design, we are extremely pleased to see so many firms generating and digging into data that both sheds light on what is actually happening in the world and what office workers would like to see happening where they work. The former reflecting the world as top management sees it and the latter reflecting what people wish their spaces would be.
Last week we shared The Ted Moudis Associates 2019 Workplace Report, a treasure trove of data that is gathered by TMA from its clients over the previous twelve months of the firm’s work. The data is carefully analyzed by TMA and aggregated into trends for things like usable square footage, layout topologies and even percentage of desk chairs vs alternative seats. The data reflects underlying real estate pressures as well as trends in active design, design for wellness and the influx of collaborative and alternate work areas.
This week we have data from another angle. Instead of focusing on what actually happened last year (in TMA’s clients), this new data looks at what employees are looking for in office design. Capital One’s Workplace solutions team released the results of its 3rd annual Capital One Work Environment Survey of office workers in the five metropolitan areas in which it has major corporate offices: New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC and San Francisco. For each of those cities 500 full-time office professionals, 18 and over, were asked to share their thoughts about the impact of workplace design and employee experience on their satisfaction, creativity and productivity at work. In addition, starting last year and continuing this year the survey interviewed 1,000 office professionals in various other cities across the country, making the total cohort 3,500.
Stefanie Spurlin, is the Vice President, Workplace Solutions at Capital One. In a telephone interview I asked her the purpose of this research. She replied, “Capital One is a data driven organization and we have wonderful data on our Capital One Associates. But in order take the pulse of the industry, to benchmark and understand what our neighbors are doing and get lessons learned, we thought it important to invest in understanding what’s going on outside our company to help inform what we do inside. In the end, one of the things that really stuck out for me was that what external people are looking for in the workplace is exactly what Capital One associates are looking for. Having concrete evidence of that reinforces that we have been thinking about it the right way and gives us a lot of confidence as we design future spaces.”
The findings are interesting if not entirely surprising. Mirroring what Ms. Spurlin said, it strikes me that the findings corroborate what we’re seeing in the projects we receive for publication. That’s an indication that firms doing projects for more progressive clients already understand what workers want and the more progressive companies are attuned to the desires and needs of their employees, and what it takes to attract and retain. People want to work in attractive offices, flexibility and options are critical and a sense of mental well-being is being recognized more and more as a thing that can and should be woven into the work environment.
Nearly all (90%) respondents to the survey report that they perform better in well-designed workplaces. I think the other 10% are just being contrary, but who knows, maybe they seriously doubt that the design of the office can positively impact performance.
When asked to choose which is more important, workplace design or location more than half the respondents chose design! That one came as a real surprise to me. I take it to mean people would be willing to commute farther to a well-designed office than a shorter distance to a crappy one. But location can mean many things; does it mean people would rather work in a well-designed office in an awful neighborhood than a crappy one in the heart of a cool neighborhood or at the beach, let’s say? I’m not so sure.
Flexibility overall is an extremely desirable attribute, for example, options that facilitate various kinds of work – heads down concentration vs team space and places for collaboration – are highly prized. But by far the most highly valued type of flexibility is flexible schedules. When presented with several options and asked, “If you were considering whether to stay or leave a company, which of the following aspects or ‘perks’ would be most likely to make you stay?” 81% chose flexible schedule! This may not directly inform design decisions, but it is a really interesting finding.
In today’s work culture, being tied to the office from 9 to 5 just doesn’t cut it anymore, and with the technology available to us, it really doesn’t make sense to be inflexible about it – but there are still companies that are.
It’s probably safe to say everybody likes perks, but this research found no overwhelmingly popular perk that can be designed into the workplace. Given a list of perks companies could offer within the workplace and given the opportunity to choose any or all of them, the most often chosen was “on-site healthy food and beverage options,” but that was only selected by 35% of respondents. Active break opportunities was next most popular at 34%. The group of all “health amenities” rose to selection by 40% of respondents concerning the perks that could prevent one from leaving.
Not considered a perk, but rather a design element, 58% of respondents listed natural light as the most desired. The study found that 57% of respondents value visual connections to nature which falls in line with the 58% who say they value natural daylight. From a design standpoint the two often go hand in hand. Also ranking high was an actual physical connection to “nature,” taken to mean outdoor spaces.
The Capital One survey is important because it focuses on the needs and wishes of rank and file employees rather than on the needs of the corporations for whom they work. Of course, in the most important sense the two needs overlap. Companies want the best work possible from their employees and workers want to be able to provide that. This study provides important corroboration of what employees would like to see in their workplace and current trends we’re seeing in workplace design. It underscores what designers have known through their own studies of their specific clients. People feel as if they work better when their workplace is well designed.
