Insights from the forefront of future of work thought leadership

“ELMO HQ has realised more connectivity and community engagement than I had ever hoped for.”
Monica Watt, General Manager HR and Admin, ELMO

As one of the fastest-growing HR tech companies in the region, providing innovative cloud HR and payroll technology to more than 1000 organisations across Asia-Pacific, ELMO were quickly outgrowing their space. As well as moving to a more centralised location in the Sydney CBD, ELMO wanted a fit-for-purpose space that would re-energise their employees (or “ELMOnians”, as they’re affectionately called), and help keep the company on its path to growth.

Before Axiom…

Having experienced exponential growth over the past few years, ELMO were fast outgrowing their original headquarters in Bondi Junction. But ELMO didn’t simply want a bigger space – they wanted a space that would truly reflect their personality, culture and values. They wanted a space that would foster connection and collaboration, increase engagement, and also be highly adaptive to each ELMOnian’s preferred way of working.

There was also the added challenge of a relatively short lead time – with ELMO growing so quickly, they only had a timeframe of 12 weeks in which to bring their vision to reality.

Axiom worked closely with ELMO, conducting in-depth workflow and organisational studies to fully understand ELMO’s needs and help them achieve their objectives.

“The Axiom team was great to work with from the commencement,” says Monica Watt, General Manager HR and Admin of ELMO. “They were engaging and responsive to our needs … [and] honest about what they had and had not done. Once they captured our thoughts and concepts … we then worked together to continuously evolve the design. The space is a combination of our ideas and their design magic coming together.”

After Axiom…

One of the most important traits ELMO wanted to cultivate in their new space was connectedness and collaboration. With this in mind, the Axiom team designed a central town hall at the very heart of ELMO’s new home, with tiered seating where employees can gather. This space is connected to a breakout zone on another floor by a staircase, further emphasising the idea of connectedness.

Annelie Xenofontos, Axiom’s Senior Workplace Strategist, explains the team’s approach: “We wanted to connect the Elmonians by creating a vertical village through the two floors. The continuous louvred finish across the two floors achieved that visual connection and was accentuated with the larger cutout in the concrete slab.”

Employee wellbeing was also highly important to ELMO, with the attraction and retention of top talent being a key objective of the new office. To that end, the design included a café and community space where staff can relax and socialise, and a wellness room where they can practise yoga and meditation. As per ELMO’s request, the meeting rooms were also placed at the core of the design, to ensure that employees could be seated close to natural light.

“I love that every day from morning through to afternoon, I see our people enjoying a cuppa, working, talking, and sharing the space. There is a spot for everyone and everything,” says Watt.

To reflect ELMO’s growth and maturation, a new colour scheme was devised, keeping true to the company’s history and evolution while showing the company’s progressiveness and innovation. The use of green and greenery throughout makes the space feel calm and inviting.

Axiom also future-proofed the new HQ, ensuring it is flexible enough to incorporate more employees as the company continues to go from strength to strength.

“The greatest success was hearing the oohs and ahs from our people. I will be honest, I was overwhelmed with various emotions on day one – I sat on the tiered seats and just watched the people enjoying their new space,” says Watt. “I am in awe of what we have created and the opportunity it presents.”

At a glance…

• Increased connectedness and collaboration achieved
• Emphasis on employee wellbeing
• Flexibility to adapt to continuing growth
• Design successfully developed and implemented in just 12 weeks

Ready for Axiom to work some design magic on your current or new office space? Book a free consultation to see what we can do for you.

Few would argue with the notion that innovation is the lifeblood of successful and competitive businesses. If you’re a company that’s stuck in the grind of ‘business as usual’, technology may hold the key to unlocking your employees’ hidden potential for innovation. (And it doesn’t have to break the bank either.)

Here are 5 ways technology can support innovation in the workplace.

Improved communication and collaboration

There’s a reason why so many companies are trying to break down silos within the business and foster more collaboration – improved communication frees the flow of ideas, allowing for better insights and faster decision-making. Deloitte has even put a dollar amount on the benefits of collaboration, estimating that quality improvements brought about by collaboration are worth around $2517 per employee and manager per year.

Collaborative platforms like Google Docs or Slack allow people to share files, collate discussions around particular topics, centralise knowledge and work on documents simultaneously. This means you can get on with the business of working together without any of the frictions and frustrations that often go with it (‘Where did that email end up?’, ‘Why haven’t they got that document back to me yet?’ etc.).

Video and voice conferencing technology, such as Zoom, can help to tear down communication barriers, which is particularly helpful if your team is spread out geographically. Interactive whiteboard technology like Webex or Jamboard also gives your team the freedom of brainstorming on a whiteboard combined with the ability to pull information, images and documents directly from the web, while again allowing team members to participate from wherever they might be.

Improved collaboration strengthens ties across the employee organisation chart, including senior management. Better accessibility to managers, directors and the C-suite – whose buy-in is vital when it comes to actually implementing ideas – can smoothen the path to innovation, allowing for creative ideas to become reality much faster.

Increased efficiency and productivity

Just about every job is susceptible to automation to some degree. Many CRMs and marketing automation platforms, for example, automate tasks like data capturing or lead nurturing. And while the idea of machines ‘taking away’ certain aspects of our jobs can be somewhat anxiety-provoking, automation can often be good for workers (when implemented mindfully and in conjunction with good workplace design).

Technology can foster innovation simply by making our lives easier. By partially or completely automating repetitive and mundane tasks, employees have more time to engage in higher-value tasks such as strategising and analysis, which of course often leads to innovation.

Better access to data

Data is essential to innovation – without accurate, up-to-date data, innovation simply isn’t possible. Today, technology plays an essential role in information gathering, from a simple IoT sensor picking up a single data point, to dashboards that help make sense of the information, to cloud data stores that hold and compute our vast swathes of data.

Getting a good handle on data visualisation using tools like Tableau can also help pave the way to innovation, making data manipulation and analysis far easier, thereby putting innovative ideas at your employees’ fingertips.

More flexibility

Innovation means coming up with new ways to do things – and this, of course, requires a great deal of creativity. But employees who are sitting at the same desks, doing the same things day in and day out, aren’t going to be feeling particularly inspired.

Technology can help here, too. Collaboration tools like those mentioned above can be perfect for a remote workforce, allowing people to feel connected and involved no matter where they’re working from. You can also use technology to support flexibility within the workplace – sensor solutions, for example, can give you real-time information on things like desk and office availability, minimising time wastage and helping to facilitate a more agile, activity-based work environment.

The regular change of scenery, and interaction with different people in the organisation, that comes with such flexible work arrangements can do wonders when it comes to helping people think outside of the box.

There’s also a lot to be said for a fast, reliable wifi connection! After all, it’s pretty hard to be innovative these days without internet access.

Aside from these direct impacts on innovation, giving your staff flexibility at work can increase employee engagement, which in turn makes them more willing to search for and develop ideas that will benefit the company, rather than simply going through the motions of the daily grind.

Boosted wellbeing

It may surprise you to know that improving your employees’ wellbeing can also lead to innovation – after all, happy, healthy employees are creative, engaged employees! And believe it or not, tech can play a role here as well.

Things like wellness portals, where employees can do things like book gym classes or monitor certain aspects of their health, can give employees the tools they need to stay fighting fit. Sit-stand desks can help promote exercise and movement throughout the day, helping employees to perform at their peak. Even a simple app that reminds workers to stand up and move about on a regular basis can be a way to get the creative juices flowing!

Giving employees more control over their environment can also help boost employee wellbeing. For example, smart lighting solutions that give staff individual access to the lighting in their particular area allows them to adjust the lighting as necessary depending on the time of day or task at hand, ensuring optimal working conditions at all times. Similarly, individualised climate control, which enables employees to adjust the temperature in their particular area, can also help ensure employee comfort throughout the day, so they can focus fully on the job in front of them.

A culture of innovation

Fostering a culture of innovation is not just about providing your employees with the right tools – it’s also about seamlessly integrating these tools into your workplace design so they become as much a part of day-to-day business as email or the photocopier. Ensuring employees have access to communication tools in collaborative hubs, or conferencing software and equipment in meeting rooms, for example, can ensure everyone actually makes use of the technologies at their disposal, so they can get on with the business of innovating.

Is innovation a core value for your business? A workplace design partner can help ensure your office reflects this. To learn more about how a workplace design partner can foster innovation at your business, check out our free ebook How to choose a workplace design partner. Download it now!

If moving house is one of the top five most stressful events in a person’s life, just imagine what the stress levels are like when it comes to an office relocation.

While relocating an entire office is a significant undertaking, by planning carefully and breaking the process down into small, manageable chunks, you can have an easy transition, with minimal disruptions and associated costs.

That’s why we’ve put together this super-handy office relocation checklist, so you don’t miss a thing.

With an office move, there are many moving parts. It’s important, therefore, to get your ducks in a row as early as possible. Careful planning and preparation can help ensure the office move is not just smooth, but that it actually benefits your organisation in the long term.

12–18 months before the move

• Determine what your key objectives are for your move (e.g. do you want to reduce costs, boost productivity or attract top talent?)
• Find an expert: a workplace design partner to help you with a workplace design strategy to identify your key objectives and determine the future way of working for your company. This will determine how much space you will actually need.
• If based on the above, the decision is made to relocate:
  • Look into your current lease and determine how and when to give notice to your landlord. (If you need to vacate your current premises before the lease is up, you may need to sublet or assign the lease to another tenant or negotiate a termination. You may want to seek advice from a property solicitor to work out what may be the best option for you.)
  • Do you have a make-good obligation? Consider the budget for this and adequate timing to have it completed
• If the desired outcome is to create significant change in the environment, then refer to your workplace design partner for a change management program to ensure all staff are brought on the journey
• Conduct a location feasibility study of shortlisted sites to determine the most suitable space – your workplace design partner can also assist with this

6-12 months before the move

• Negotiate and finalise the terms of your new lease
• Put together a detailed timeline to ensure the move is completed on time
• Liaise with the building manager at the new property to help determine the layout
• Create an inventory of your existing furniture and fittings, and determine what will be moved to the new office, and what new furniture and fittings will be required
• Involve IT with your workplace design partner to perform an audit of your current IT and communications systems (computer, photocopies, phones, etc.), and determine what equipment will be kept and what needs to be upgraded. (It is essential that all your IT equipment, systems and phones are all fully functional on the day you move in to ensure minimal disruption.)

3-6 months before the move

• Select a moving day
• Devise a detailed moving budget (for moving costs only, separate to your relocation budget)
• Schedule wiring and cabling of all computers and phone lines
• Create a master change-of-address list, listing clients, vendors and suppliers that will need to be notified of your new details and order new stationery
• Hire a professional moving company
• Hire a professional cleaning service for the vacated property
• Create a company moving team, ideally with a representative from each department, to help coordinate the move across the organisation
• Depending on the extent of the change, ensure the staff are regularly informed about and involved in the moving process, in conjunction with the change management program (if applicable)
• Keep a hand in with your workplace design partner, ensuring everything is going in the direction you need it to

1 month before the move

You’re on the home stretch! This is the time to make sure things are still on track, and to double (and triple) check nothing has inadvertently been left by the wayside.

• Hold a meeting at the new premises with all the parties involved (design/construction/movers/IT etc.) to ensure all details have been covered and responsibilities for the upcoming weeks are clear
• Put together a welcome pack for employees, outlining information about the building and the neighbourhood, so employees can quickly settle in
• Organise an office warming party to welcome employees to the new office
• Finalise employee seating plan
• Implement a clean-up program (purging files, disposing of rubbish, moving old files to storage etc.)
• Back-up business operations
• Acquire packing supplies for the move
• Create a detailed moving day plan
• Reserve loading dock and elevators, and acquire any necessary permits (such as parking)
• Sort out keys and access cards
• Start setting up IT and communications systems
• Give staff a tour of the new premises so they know what to expect when they arrive on day one

On the day

The big day is here. While much of the work will be in the hands of professionals (thanks to all your careful planning), you’ll still need to be keeping an eye on things and ensuring everything’s ready to go when employees walk in the door.

• Arrange with the building manager to have air conditioning switched on prior to entry (this will make the day much more comfortable!)
• Ensure workstations are assembled and correctly labelled with numbers or employees’ names, so employees can easily find their desks
• Test computers, phones, internet, and other technologies to ensure everything is connected and working properly
• Ensure old site has been cleaned thoroughly
• Ensure the new site is clear of excess furniture, crates and packing materials

After the move

Hooray! The hard part’s over. Now it’s time to tie up any loose ends, let your clients know about your new location, and reap the benefits of a brand new office.

• Brief staff on new premises, such as workspaces, break areas and amenities
• Distribute welcome packs and new phone lists
• Address any residual issues reported by staff
• Confirm termination of the old lease
• Schedule press release and client announcement
• Review office fitout and design, and track relevant metrics to see if key objectives are being met

As you can see, an office relocation is a lot of work! That’s why you want to ensure you reap maximum benefits from it. To help your business get to the next level, choose a workplace design partner that can help you achieve your objectives and prepare your new space for you. To learn more, download our free ebook How to choose a workplace design partner now.

Workplace wellness is not only important for moral and ethical reasons, but financial reasons, too. In fact, a recent study found that every year, absenteeism costs the Australian economy an estimated $44 billion, while presenteeism (working at a reduced capacity) more than $35 billion.

So what are organisations doing to promote workplace wellness?

At our recent lunch and learn, we covered how organisations can produce the best bottom-line results through workplace wellness initiatives with our panel of experts:

• Dr Debra Villar, Director at Complete Corporate Wellness, a company that provides health and wellness programs for the corporate sector.
• Jack Noonan, Vice President Australia & New Zealand at International WELL Building Institute, which is leading the movement to promote health and wellness in buildings and communities everywhere through their cutting-edge WELL Building Standard™.
• Annelie Xenofontos, Senior Workplace Strategist at Axiom Workplaces, who leads the strategic thinking process that creates intelligent workplace design outcomes for our clients.

Here’s what they had to say about wellness trends they were noticing in Australian workplaces.

How are buildings changing to support workplace wellness initiatives?

Circadian lighting

Noonan explains that 20 years ago, all offices were using bright, fluorescent lighting that didn’t change throughout the day, which led to a disruption of sleep at night.

This is why today, more organisations are using circadian lighting – that is, lighting that mimics your daily cycle. Lighting will mimic daylight midday, and become warmer in the afternoon as you finish work.

Most results are qualitative instead of quantitative, with organisations saying that staff are requesting circadian table lamps and more likely to use meeting rooms with circadian lighting.

End of trip facilities

Noonan explains that Australia is well ahead of the United States in terms of our end of trip facilities, simply because large developers and workplaces are willing to make end of trip facilities spacious enough for tenants to share and enjoy.

For example, the recently opened International Towers in Barangaroo boast the largest bike parking facility in the southern hemisphere, with room for over 1000 bicycles and more than 100 showers. This encourages cycling to work which not only reaps health benefits, but also environmental benefits.

How are organisations supporting nutrition?

Villar explains that some businesses go to the extreme by providing gourmet meals, which are pre-planned by a head chef – but not all businesses can afford this, so it’s more about providing healthy alternatives. If unhealthy snacks are available, you can place them on the bottom-shelf so that they’re not prominently promoted.

According to Noonan, 50% of food options should be fresh fruit and vegetables – or at the very least, organisations should provide two options of fruit and two options of vegetables. This is to ensure that making the healthier choice is the easier choice and that staff have options available.

Additionally, by simply providing inviting spaces for people to come together and eat, organisations are encouraging a balanced diet, as people tend to eat healthier when they eat together. A requirement of the WELL Building Standard is that there is space for at least 25% of employees to have lunch at any point in time. While it’s certainly an investment in real estate (as you’re sacrificing space that could be used as work stations), it’s an important factor for workplace wellness.

How are organisations supporting mental health?

According to Villar, 1 in 4 people in the world have a mental disorder but no one wants to admit it. Stigma prevents people with a known disorder to seek help from health professionals – even if treatment is available.

Movements like R U OK? Day help in supporting those who are struggling by inspiring people to start talking about mental health. Companies and other organisations are also doing their part in supporting mental health and creating a healthy workplace. Villar highlighted that a healthy company not only focuses on the health of an individual but on the health of the whole organisation.

A focus on taking action

Organisations are starting to go beyond the simple measurement of chronic diseases by implementing health programs that build fun and engaging workplaces.

Previous programs comprised mainly of checklists, and centred mostly on the measurement of data. Managers would tick boxes, analyse the data and conclude, for instance, that 10% of employees have a risk of diabetes. But these numbers have no value if they don’t help solve actual health issues and affect change.

Australian companies still conduct biometric testing for glucose and other health checks – but are beginning to move away from that and focus on fun and engaging activities like workplace challenges, team projects and treatment days.

Villar also mentioned that there are cost-effective ways to encourage employees to take the stairs, simply by making them more appealing. For example, you could allow people to draw artwork and write quotes along the wall near the staircase.

These activities actually make a difference in people’s health, instead of simply drawing conclusions around the percentage of staff that have chronic diseases.

Support the mental health of managers

More organisations are recognising the importance of supporting managers with the tools they need to support their own mental health, so that they can, in turn, support the mental health of their teams.

“It’s all well and good to provide education to staff around mental health, but if you’re not providing dedicated support to their managers so that they can walk the talk and inspire staff, then you’re missing an important point,” explains Villar.

Leaders need to have the necessary tools to deal with mental health issues, as they can be quite confronting.
Villar and her team provide a mental health first aid course for organisations – helping people recognise signs of mental disorders, what to do, and how to deal with those signs.

Focus on office design

Xenofontos explains that organisations are using office design to positively impact mental health. One example is through the use of open-plan offices.

She mentioned the experience of a person who worked in a law firm that had partitioned offices for every lawyer. Because of this, no one in the office noticed when one particular staff member was having a difficult time dealing with his wife’s illness and suffering from a mental health crisis. The fact that staff were separated by their own cubicles meant that he could come to the office before anyone arrived, and leave the office after everyone left – without anyone noticing.

Xenofontos stressed that if it was an open plan office, other staff would more likely notice the decline in his wellbeing, and offer some support. This is why it’s important to consider how office design can impact employee health and wellness.

A workplace design partner can help you build a healthier office for your managers and staff. To help you find the perfect one for your business, check out our free ebook, How to Choose the Right Workplace Design Partner.

Or if you’d like some free advice, why not meet with us and get a comprehensive design assessment and execution plan, obligation-free?

If you want your business to perform at its peak, then you need to ensure your employees can perform at their best, and this means looking after their health and wellbeing.

It’s important to bear in mind that employee health and wellness is not just about physical health, but also emotional and social wellbeing.

Prioritising employees’ health and wellbeing can have myriad benefits for your business, including:

• greater productivity
• reductions in work-related sickness and injuries
• lower workers’ compensation costs
• a decrease in absenteeism and staff turnover
• improved employee satisfaction
• enhanced corporate image

If improving employee health and wellbeing is an important goal for your business, one of the first things to look at is the environment in which your employees spend up to 40 hours (or more) a week.

Here are 5 ways you can improve employee health and wellbeing through your workplace design.

Encourage activity

You might have heard that “sitting is the new smoking”. Doctors have found that sedentary behaviour can be highly detrimental to health, leading to an increased risk of chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

That’s why forward-thinking organisations are implementing ways to encourage movement and activity throughout the day. This could be by installing sit-stand desks, to encourage employees to stand more throughout the day; having standing meeting rooms; or even removing small personal printers and installing large shared printers, so workers have an excuse to get up on a regular basis.

Integrate nature, sunlight and fresh air

There’s ample evidence that integrating nature, sunlight and fresh air into the workplace can have positive effects on health and wellbeing, thereby boosting productivity. Indoor plants, for example, have been shown to lift people’s moods and even remove harmful chemical compounds in the air.

There’s also data that suggests air quality may have a much bigger impact than once thought. Harvard University professor Joseph Allen performed a study that showed that workers in ‘green’ buildings with enhanced ventilation scored 101% higher than those in conventional buildings.

Sunlight can also have a positive effect on workers’ productivity, with one study finding that workers who were exposed to more daylight during the working week slept longer, did more physical activity and had better quality of life than workers who had little exposure to daylight.

Consider how these elements could be integrated into your next workplace design. Could you, for example, install a ‘living wall’ to help decrease stress levels? Could you seat workers closer to windows so they get more exposure to daylight? Could you install an air ventilation system to ensure workers get plenty of fresh air throughout the day?

Promote rest and relaxation

Often at work, our days are so jam-packed that there’s barely time for a bathroom break, let alone a decent lunch. But having employees working as hard as they possibly can does not actually lead to more productivity. On the contrary, in fact – it can lead to chronic stress and employee burnout, resulting in lower levels of productivity.

That’s why it’s important that employees take regular breaks in order to recharge, clear their head and strengthen their focus.

If employees don’t have an appealing space where they can take a load off, it sends a message that taking breaks is frowned upon by upper management. Environmental cues, therefore, are a powerful way to encourage this healthy behaviour. Revamp your break area(s) by providing a variety of comfortable seating options, and using home- or café-inspired touches to make the space feel more inviting.

Factor in noise and acoustics

When considering a workplace redesign, it can be easy to get heavily focused on the visual aspects. But what about the acoustics?

Excessive noise levels at work can have a dramatic effect on employee health and wellbeing, causing disruptions and poor performance. One study has even shown it can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, resulting in more staff absenteeism. Workplace design that factors in noise management, therefore, can do much to contribute to workers’ comfort.

For example, if you are planning on an open-plan layout, you may want to help mitigate any potential interferences by installing closed rooms where people can conduct phone calls. If the space is large and potentially echo-ey, you could consider ways to absorb and block any excessive noise, whether it’s by utilising high-performance acoustic tiles or being mindful about how you use partitions, walls and windows.

Consider materials

We’ve already talked about the importance of air quality in a work environment – but did you know that just about everything around you could potentially be contributing to poor air quality?

Your carpet, paint, furnishings and office equipment (such as photocopiers) could all be emitting volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. VOCs have been shown to impair cognitive ability, including the ability to make complicated decisions, to focus and to problem solve. They can even potentially lead to health effects such as headaches, nausea and fatigue.

A workplace design should take into account workers’ exposure to VOCs by, for example, using low-VOC-emitting materials or being mindful about where office equipment like printers and photocopiers are located.

By putting employee health and wellbeing at the core of your next workplace design, you can not only have a more inviting and comfortable place to work, but you can also reap maximum ROI through boosted productivity levels. It’s a win-win!

A workplace design partner can help you develop a workplace design strategy that delivers maximum ROI. To help you find the perfect one for your business, check out our free ebook How to Choose the Right Workplace Design Partner. Download it now!

Workplace design has a marked effect on a business – if it didn’t, every office would simply be four white walls with rows and rows of identical desks.

Organisations are beginning to understand that, in order to get the best performance out of their employees, they need to provide more than simply a place to work – they need to provide spaces to collaborate, innovate and take a break.

If you want to take your business to the next level, a workplace redesign might just be the place to start. Here are 5 ways a workplace design can make your business more competitive.

Improving productivity

Our environments have an undeniable effect on how well we work, so supporting employees through workplace design can have a very positive effect on productivity. This can be through myriad ways. A workplace design can, for example, incorporate ergonomic furniture and flexible desks to support employee comfort and wellness, helping them do better work throughout the day; or it can make certain workflows more efficient, leaving employees more time to work on things that provide greater value to the company.

Increasing collaboration

Many organisations are realising the benefits of fostering a strong culture of collaboration, with a report by Deloitte finding that Australian companies that prioritise collaboration are twice as likely to be profitable and twice as likely to outgrow competitors.

Studies have also shown that the most innovative employees spend almost half their time collaborating with others, whether that’s in person or via technology.

A workplace design can be a key means of encouraging collaboration. Whether it’s informal lounges, stand-up meeting spaces, or brainstorming rooms, the simple act of providing a space whose purpose is collaboration sends a strong signal to employees that it is an essential aspect of your culture, and encourages employees to find ways to utilise the space.

Encouraging innovation

The most innovative businesses often have the most innovative workplace designs – think Microsoft’s treehouses, Apple’s spaceship or Amazon’s mini rainforest domes. While these sorts of things might be a bit outside your budget, there are still many ways your workplace design can help your employees be more innovative too.

Because innovation means thinking outside the box, it makes sense that innovators can become more creative when they have more choice in when and where they work. Providing a variety of spaces and more flexibility can help employees be more engaged in their jobs and spark ideas on improvements – a win for the business.

Organisations that consider employee happiness as a fundamental performance objective consistently unlock greater innovation and long-term financial success, according to a Robert Half study. While innovation is defined differently by each business, providing a workspace with places to unplug and unwind can aid the creative process, while also giving employees more organic opportunities for interpersonal interaction.

Attracting top talent

If you want your business to be more competitive, then you need to be able to attract the best of the best. But these days – when many employees have the option to not just work at other organisations, but also become freelance consultants – it’s arguable that companies have to work harder than ever to entice employees to stay in one place.

Your workplace design is one of the best tools at your disposal. With a single glance, potential employees can read a lot into your organisation. For example, a variety of different spaces – cosy reading nooks, formal conference rooms, collaborative open-plan areas – says your organisation is flexible and willing to cater for different work practices.

A biophilic design that integrates nature, or a design that encourages activity throughout the day, shows you care about your employees’ health and wellbeing.

Supporting digital transformation

Successful digital transformation requires an organisation to rethink its entire way of working. A workplace redesign can facilitate this, whether it’s by incorporating new technologies, supporting new workflows or encouraging new ways of working.

REA Group’s headquarters in Melbourne, for example, have ‘wormholes’ – embedded screen portals within walls to allow 24/7 communication with global teammates, allowing them to partake in events like meetings, demonstrations and celebrations as if they were in the same room.

If claiming a bigger market share and outstripping your competitors is one of your organisation’s goals this year, take a look around the office. Could your workplace design be working harder for you?