Insights from the forefront of future of work thought leadership

Workplaces are changing. Organisations are moving towards modern workspaces, where employees can collaborate and work together. Open designs are replacing traditional – isolating – cubicle-style offices. But many organisations are yet to perfect this design shift and should consider the benefits of investing in a space solely for collaboration and socialising.

Peace is hard to find in the office. Constant chatting, keyboards tapping, and music blasting can interrupt employees, impacting productivity and affecting their wellbeing at work. Noise is one of the top disrupters to employees and costs Australian businesses billions in absenteeism and staff turnover. Organisations need to ensure their people are well looked after, both mentally and physically, and this can be achieved by adding quiet zones.

A study by Steelcase found 95 percent of employees today need quiet and private areas, but only 40 percent say their workplaces provide them.

It might be an unfamiliar scientific word, but if you’ve recently moved into a new office or joined an organisation that boasts a contemporary fitout, biophilia should have made a meaningful contribution to the ideas, philosophies and aesthetics underpinning the final design.

Biophilia is best explained, literally, as meaning a love of nature or a love of life or living systems. In the early 1980s, American biologist Edward Osborne Wilson created a philosophy and resulting book called The Biophilia Hypothesis, an ingrained affinity between humans and our natural world. Many of the world’s leading universities have also conducted numerous studies into biophilia but, as studies have moved into the biological including psychology, we’ve learnt more about how it can impact workplace productivity and satisfaction.

In a report by Interface Design, Human Spaces Report: Biophilic Design in the Workplace, psychologist Sir Cary Cooper explains the relationship between workplace design and biophilia as “an innovative way to harness this affinity in order to create natural environments for us to live, work and learn [in]. By consciously including nature in interior or architectural design, we are unconsciously reconnecting; bringing the great outdoors in to our constructed world.”

In layperson’s terms, workplaces incorporating natural plant life are likely to be happier, more productive workplaces.

Offices that successfully incorporate the principles of biophilia into their workspace design are likely to create more productive and satisfying places for their employees compared to offices without natural plant-life. The beauty of this type of design is you don’t need to completely overhaul your present space to bring the natural world into yours.

How do you give your workplace a natural face-lift? We’ve provided you with some simple ways to introduce – or increase – the foliage in your office without smashing your budget to smithereens or taking you beyond a messy point-of-no-return.

Incorporate a living wall or vertical garden

As housing affordability issues increase, more people are turning to apartment living, especially in inner city areas. Along with this, the opportunities to cultivate traditional gardens diminish, yet the desire to create personal green spaces remains strong. One of the more innovative solutions for incorporating natural plant-life into our increasingly cramped private and workspaces is the vertical garden – or living walls, as some might call them.

The beauty of a vertical garden is it can be as big or as small as you desire. Possibly start with a relatively compact space and give yourself the scope to expand the size of this garden as it flourishes, and the productivity and employee satisfaction benefits start to materialise.

The maintenance of a living wall can also give your people the opportunity to take more ownership around the office, offering their input into the design of other creative vertical garden ideas around the workspace.

“We should pay homage to our tradies.” 
Jodette Cleary, Chief People Officer, hipages

As Australia’s number one site for hiring tradies, hipages wanted to redesign their Sydney-based headquarters to make it feel like a second home to their staff. A typical corporate space, the office needed a homely readjustment to bring the aspects of home and work together and optimise employees to their fullest.

Before Axiom…

The original hipages office space was a traditional corporate space that lacked natural light and distinctly felt like a place away from home. With the goal of creating a sense of home, the hipages headquarters provided the perfect canvas for the Axiom Workplaces team to employ creativity and think beyond the usual design for corporate spaces.

Axiom’s Managing Director, Shane Hales, describes the undertaking as “applying creative thinking to not only align with our client’s commercial objectives but to create that unique environment of an unconventional workplace design.”

First impressions are important and, in keeping with this philosophy, Axiom wanted to create a memorable experience for hipages staff, clients and visitors when entering the main floor.

Axiom’s Senior Workplace Strategist explains the team’s approach: “We had to ‘de-corporatise’ the space to get that homely feel. The most important thing was in the selection of the details – things that you would see at home. All the little details came together to make up the full picture.”

“You don’t often see this attention to detail in corporate projects, and it’s usually a removed decision-making process. But not with this project.”

The structure of the building had potential, already standing head and shoulders above most corporate spaces in Sydney. It housed a balcony, with ability for a second one. But the existing balcony was a sorry sight, in desperate need of a makeover. This was a challenge relished by Axiom’s design team.

After Axiom…

The team drew design inspiration from the exterior of a typical house – with brick cladding – but combined it with state-of-the-art technology. The lobby was stripped-back to project the hipages logo onto the floor, to signal innovation but also authenticity. The colours echo those in the hipages corporate palette. The entrance is a typical domestic front door, beginning the immersive experience and reinforcing the feeling of having arrived at home.

“Even the door framing was chosen for domesticity, rather than the typical aluminium framing, And the choice of carpet was soft and luxurious, the kind of carpet that makes you want to throw off your shoes and sink your toes into it.”

The real heart of the project and hipages home was the kitchen and adjacent ‘family’ rumpus room, together making it the team’s ‘town hall’. The area has multiple access points to avoid congestion, and an extended island bench ensures there is sufficient space for catering during hipages’ famous team functions.

Both of these casual time-out spaces are positioned away from general work areas to provide staff with the permission to truly relax, while not being concerned their actions and conversations may be distracting co-workers.

Axiom was inspired to create a piece of wall art with the hipages team as artists, something that is visually interesting but does not dominate the space. This artwork is also a sneaky method for concealing a base building services door, while having some abstract fun.

On hiding other unsightly and high-rise sights, “We hung curtains over the building services cupboard so instead of being greeted at reception with the firedoor and hydraulics, it’s all covered up with a floral curtain. That also helped to soften everything.”

To bring in natural light, Axiom took advantage of the balcony, terrace and deck area to provide a softer visual impact. It was decided to cover the side walls in murals that reflected the workstation screen colours, effectively melding the outside and inside to make it feel like one seamless space, and to extend the office outwards and provide an opportunity for staff to work in the fresh air – weather permitting.

Centralised recycling stations were installed alongside the hydration stations and printing facilities. Existing furniture and partitioning was all re-used where it was feasible to meet the requirements. Bringing fresh, green plants into the space is yet another homely touch that invigorates and provides health benefits for everyone.

When asked for the most satisfying element of the hipages project, the Axiom team says, “Reflecting the client’s personality. You walk in and it really feels like hipages home.”

At a glance…

• • Designed to visually reflect brand
  • Homely integration to a corporate space
  • Green elements to emphasise natural element
  • Sustainable practice

Workplace wellbeing used to stop at the water’s edge of smoke-free spaces, artificial plants and brightness diffusers that sat over your computer monitor. But, in today’s workplace, such things are just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll also find that technology is playing an increasing role in the kind of workplace design that facilitates staff wellness.

The CEO of Limeade, Henry Albrecht, is adamant that, in time, the amount invested in wellness and its outcomes will be measureable. What he means is companies will be able to see the impacts of workplace wellness on their bottom-line.

With greater measurability on the cost of investing in a healthy and happy workforce on the horizon, here are some ways that you and your organisation can you get ahead of the workplace wellness curve, with technology that both complements and seamlessly integrates into modern workplace design (when implemented correctly, of course).

Wellness portals

If the term is not something you’ve heard before, wellness portals are basically online hubs that serve as a one-stop destination for you and your staff to access health and wellness information (e.g. make a health insurance claim, book into a Yoga class or access other healthy lifestyle features). When integrated with the data collated from wearables (i.e. technology that can be worn close to the body to collect bio feedback), wellness portals can assist HR departments by tracking employee wellbeing on a global scale.

‘Connected’ workplaces are already a key feature of today’s office design and fitout concepts but, as the adoption of wellness portals and wearables ramps up, it is important your office workspace design incorporates the flexibility to adapt to changing technology. Make sure you keep front-of-mind the necessity to have IT infrastructure that can provide your employees with reliable and effective access to tools that will improve workplace wellbeing.

Breakout spaces

Breakout spaces are not a new concept in workplace design. What is new with these spaces, however, is their effectiveness in promoting workplace wellness. Where a breakout space may have merely once had a coffee machine and some unused office chairs near a window, the modern breakout space takes into account a wealth of aesthetic factors – like custom-made furnishings – alongside functionality considerations such as accessibility and effective use of light and sound.

While breakout spaces have traditionally been ‘tech-free’ zones, workplaces are now seeing technology as a positive contributor to relaxation and wellbeing – whether that means following a guided meditation from an app, playing a networked game or chilling out to some music. However, making sure your connectivity is seamless is the key to ensuring your workplace technology functions in this manner – there’s no better way to raise blood pressure than to have Wi-Fi signals dropping in and out!

When it comes to planning an office makeover, it is vital you have a crystal-clear understanding of the purpose of your breakout space. Will it be a room for quiet discussion? Will it be a refuge for employees who may be experiencing a stressful day to escape and breathe out for a moment or two? Will it be somewhere that your people can carry out work away from their desks?

Knowing what parameters you want to set around your breakout space – and, possibly, creating multiple breakout spaces for different purposes – will ensure the resources you dedicate will efficiently boost workplace wellbeing.

Ergonomics

A really simple example of effective ergonomics is the rise of standing – or height-adjustable – desks.

The health and productivity benefits of height-adjustable desks are widely agreed upon. However, the cost of overhauling each workstation with new furniture can be daunting for many office managers. Thankfully, manufacturers are creating sit-stand desk solutions that alter existing furniture to allow for this versatility, as well as the provision of completely new workstations. As the popularity of standing desks has increased so have the aesthetic considerations, meaning height-adjustable desks look right at home and play an important role in workplace wellbeing.

Consider introducing sit-stand solutions with one-touch electronic functionality that can accommodate hot-desking and be easily modified to the height specifications of different employees.

Workplace wellbeing is more than a buzz term - it can give back to your business if you consider it wisely. Click To Tweet And technology should be your friend in workplace wellbeing, so embrace it.

Learn more about creating spaces that promote wellness and wellbeing at work in our eBook: The fundamental of wellness and wellbeing in workplace design.