WSA Studio

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by Tim Hawk on Aug.23, 2010, under best_workplace , hawk on architecture So, in this rough and tumble economy, it seems that we are all interested in finding a way to get the most out of our dollars. Many firms are deciding to simply hold onto their cash, and create a bigger war chest. Salaries are frozen, capital expenditures are on the decline, and organizations are finding innovative ways to hang onto their work environment without significant investments. Our firm does a lot of work in the corporate workplace arena. Over the past ten years, there has been a growing investment of corporate money towards the development and expansion of technology in the office. Most offices are fully wireless, redundantly wired, and the growing demands of software simply require each organization to implement a computing technology replacement strategy. So, everyone has a relatively newish computer. At this point, the technological support mechanisms are fully integrated into the office environment and all of the associates are “tucked in”, ready to roll with the latest technology. With the investments that have been made in technology, it seems that productivity should be on the rise. And, based on the lean workplace numbers, I do believe that today’s worker is harnessing that technology to make more and more money for their employers. Recent news releases echo this sentiment…apparently the worker of today is more productive than in recent times. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/gains-in-u-s-worker-productivity-probably-stalled-pushing-labor-costs-up.html So, how do we maintain the productivity of the past and harness it to continue increasing profits in the near future? I believe that the greatest risk to productivity can be found in the lack of investment over the past ten years in the workplace’s physical infrastructure. Since 2001, very little investment has been made in the workplace. Many organizations are housing their staff in aging cubicles with dismal lighting and individualized environmental controls. The current corporate workplace norm includes older workstations that lack the ability to support teamwork and collaboration; private offices that eat up valuable real estate (what a throw back), small conference rooms that have been adapted to house three to four folks in a less than ideal situation. And, the working environment is in deep need of a fresh coat of paint and some basic sprucing up. It is time. It’s time for the workplace to evolve. Today’s new worker was most likely in middle school when their workstation was purchased, and to them, the environment feels completely out of date. High panels that are not easily reconfigured will not be attractive to the new knowledge worker. They want to work virtually and they feel disconnected in yesterday’s cubicle. The millennial generation wants access. They do not want to be restricted from engagement, regardless of their specific work area. They have never done anything in a singular fashion…but rather prefer to work collaboratively along side their peers and superiors. They are not linear, often are not overly scheduled, and have a growing preference for visual learning.

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