Time to Take Back the Key to the Executive Washroom

It wasn't so long ago that career success was measured by the size of your corner office, what floor you were on, or whether you owned a key to the executive washroom. These are status symbols of a bygone age, irrelevant to today's employee and remote workforce.

The new office is somewhere where it's easy to meet with colleagues, have fun, and yet also have a quiet space to get things done. It's an inviting environment that is adapted to accommodate everyone's needs, and where the magic of collaboration happens.

Down with the Cubicle Farm

If the goal is to drive collaboration and teamwork, then let's start pulling down the barriers that get in the way.

Cubicle farms have been a standard of the U.S. workplace for far too long. Unfortunately, in most cases, the egalitarian intent of everyone having a similar sized space and ready access to their colleagues has spectacularly backfired. Far too often you can walk the corridors but not see another person, unless they are doing the “meerkat bounce.” You know the move, it's where maze-dwellers stand up in their cubicles, scan the horizon to see who is about, and sit right down again.

People use e-mail to chat with team members 20 feet away, and we wonder why there isn't real teamwork!

We recently visited a Silicon Valley campus. There were bikes everywhere and helmets to grab if you didn't have one. Workspaces included private pods where you could curl up and think and whiteboard walls where you could write ideas for others to build on. Great food trucks were at the sidewalk, along with dry cleaners, manicurists, and hair salons.

It was a village unto itself. Employees never had to leave, except perhaps to sleep. And we bet that will change, too.

This type of working environment is completely open: no walls, no hiding, and no excuses. Team members can simply raise their heads and talk to the person next to them. It leads to a much different environment where camaraderie and team relationships flourished.

Yes, private space is important. We personally hate hot-desking and not knowing where we'll be working. However, the cubicle farm has got to go and a new compromise reached. While an open plan environment may result in more spontaneous conversations, it can also drive others to despair with the noise and distractions. We still need quiet time away from the hubbub of the office and a private office to hold confidential conversations when needed.

Cubicle or office walls may not exist in the future-proof workplace. Instead they'll be replaced by the virtual wall of the noise-cancelling headset. We've had leaders tell us that they will often wear headphones that aren't actually connected to anything just to stop the interruptions and questions from colleagues when they are in an open plan environment.

The future-proof workplace has to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the team. It must provide formal spaces as well as casual spaces where a different style of conversation will unfold, and increase the opportunities to learn from colleagues.

It Takes More than a Ping-Pong Table

It's going to take more than bright colors, a foosball table, or the latest in standing desks for a team to embrace concepts of the future-proof workplace.

Silicon Valley firms have long been held up as the poster-child for the new-age office, offering a myriad of perks and environments for their employees. Whether it's gyms, professional kitchens with all-you-can-eat food, gaming facilities, music equipment and sound stages, bean bag chairs and slides, fancy coffee (with baristas), food trucks, or concierge services, no wonder people work long hours. Why would they want, or need, to be anywhere else?

It's a tough act to follow and has certainly helped to attract the talent those Silicon Valley firms need. However, there is hope for the small and medium-sized enterprise. It turns out that the bells and whistles may be just that: distractions from what is really creating the high-powered workplace of the twenty-first century.

As we work with our clients in these Silicon Valley firms, it is apparent how infrequently some of these perks actually get used. We repeatedly hear that while the ping-pong table is nice, the reality is that they rarely have time to use it during the workday…because they are working!

Far more important to them is the sense of community and ability to make a difference through the work they do every day.

From Water Coolers to Watering Holes

The result of pulling down the office walls and cubicles is an open space that needs to be deliberately designed as a space that encourages people to come, stop, and chat. In redesigning the office, many organizations are paying close attention to how employees move about the space, deliberately designing opportunities for chance encounters to occur where new ideas can be formed. Wearable technology allows employers to track employee movement in real time and, if used appropriately, adjust the office design accordingly. Big Brother really can be watching!

The common areas, traditionally centered around the proverbial water cooler (or tea kettle in the United Kingdom), have been redesigned as watering holes. These areas don't just provide beer on Fridays, but they are designed to be aesthetically appealing.

The watering hole encourages employees to linger, to make conversation and, more important, new connections, and, ultimately, to collaborate. In creating opportunities for unplanned interactions among employees both inside and outside the building, performance actually improves.¹

One team of executives asked, “How can we change our space to get the sales staff running into colleagues from other departments?” In this case, the answer involved coffee. At the time, the company had roughly one coffee machine for every six employees, and the same people used the same machines every day.

The sales force commiserated with itself. Marketing people talked to marketing people. They stuck with their own tribes and unconsciously avoided going near strangers—their own colleagues!

The company invested several hundred thousand dollars to rip out the coffee stations and build fewer, bigger ones—just one for every 120 employees. It also created a large cafeteria for all employees in place of a much smaller one that few employees had used.

In the quarter after the coffee and cafeteria switch, sales rose by 20 percent, or $200 million, quickly justifying the capital investment in the redesign.

However, one of the most compelling transformations of the workspace is not just for those who use it in person, it's also designed to help remote employees feel connected to the mother ship. The future-proof workplace needs to invest in the full integration of technology, providing access to documentation, processes, systems, and people—24/7—and keeping us connected even when we work remotely.

Anytime, Anywhere

For the vast majority of workers, the office is not as important as it was in the past. The advent of technology has transformed every coffee shop, hotel foyer, park bench, or beach into a twenty-first-century office.

Remote workers need to be provided with all the necessary technology, training, and access to work anywhere, connecting seamlessly to office systems back at the traditional brick-and-mortar headquarters. This includes collaborative software like videoconferencing, instant messaging, and cloud-based file sharing, which allows people to avoid feelings of isolation and invisibility.

The twenty-first-century organization needs to provide these tools as well as clear permission to ignore them. The inability to switch off is at pandemic proportions; for many of us, our smartphone and e-mail is the last thing we look at before we sleep and the first thing we check when we awake.

Just because we can work anywhere and anytime doesn't mean we should. Our phones often receive more care and attention than our real-world relationships. You only have to look around a restaurant to see how many couples are more focused on their phones than each other. We support a move to reduce the number of after-hours e-mails and to ensure that vacation time is just that, an opportunity to focus on life.

Congratulations to the person who can design the app that blocks communication to and from the office at crucial times, much like the wireless microphones that don't (in theory) work when you step out of the conference hall to visit the restroom.

Wouldn't it be great if when we stepped out of work, whether the office or coffee shop, our phone knew that we were stepping into our lives—and didn't ring, flash, or vibrate to let us know of a new work message.

Since we seem unable to self-regulate we are starting to see legislation intervene. A law was recently passed in France that gives employees the “right to disconnect” from e-mail, smartphones, and other electronic devices once their working day has ended. French workers may now ignore business e-mails that arrive after hours with no recrimination, and no guilt. Now there's something we can all to aspire to!

No app is as effective as a clear company culture that values its peoples' free time.

From Corporate Campus to Community Campus

The notion that a single organization owns one space or a whole building for its own use is becoming a distinctly twentieth-century idea.² Zappos' executives used their headquarters to lead a local coworking experiment that launched in early 2012 and eventually grew to include nearly 200 stakeholders, among them Zappos employees, area residents, start-ups, independent workers, and others who shared the same physical premises. The spaces were improvised from a network of existing ones: a coffee shop, the courtyard of a Thai restaurant, an old church hall, the lobby of a casino, and an empty corporate apartment.

The proliferation of shared workspaces has continued unabated, with many small start-ups seeking out these collaborative zones. These organizations provide a membership-style service, with everything from a hot desk to a dedicated office available. Often, resources are provided not just in the city the business is located, but in any city where that corporate office suite is available.

Medium-sized organizations can now have an office footprint that many larger organizations might be envious of. In addition, these arrangements offer flexible usage, lower overhead costs, and the ability to tap into the expertise of other business owners who share the space.

Early results from Zappos showed that the small, shared nature of the space encouraged people to be more mobile, increasing chance encounters with other colleagues. After six months, data revealed a 42 percent increase in face-to-face encounters, a 78 percent increase in participant-generated proposals to solve specific problems, and an 84 percent increase in the number of new leaders. Ten new civic and local community projects were launched—including the Sunday Reset Project, a monthly event to promote healthful living.

Designing for Wellness

The sharing economy epitomizes the open office—shared space, shared desks, shared everything, including germs when ill coworkers decide to come into the office. Designing the new workplace has to account for employee health and wellness, not just productivity.

Whether allowing pets in the office boosts or hinders productivity is an often-debated topic. As dog lovers, we can understand the desire to have Fido curled up at our feet. We're less convinced that bringing your cat to work would add anything other than the potential for a cat fight. Having pets in the office does reduce stress and can act as a social catalyst, a further opportunity for chance encounters or conversation starters.

Designing workspaces to facilitate employee wellness and encourage employees to walk around rather than sit for long periods of time is key for future-proofing your workplace. The twentieth-century office was more reminiscent of a battery farm for humans. We've all been told that sitting is the new smoking, with alarming health implications. Forward-thinking organizations are providing alternatives such as treadmill desks, standing desks, and a future that doesn't promote being chained to a desk all day. They are moving away from the back-to-back meeting schedule and requiring meetings to have a 10-minute transition time.

Providing opportunities for employees to reduce stress and be more aware of their health choices can only benefit them and, ultimately, the organization—a healthier bottom line for all!

Social and Environmental Responsibility

The final piece in the workplace puzzle is the increased focus on social and environmental impact.

When it comes to community involvement, many organizations are throwing open their doors, encouraging employees to get out and connect with their communities. Salesforce.com³ is consistently ranked as one of the top companies to work for. Employees have logged over 1.3 million volunteer hours since the company began this initiative. They receive seven paid days a year to volunteer, and all monetary donations are matched, dollar for dollar, by the company.

Twitter⁴ doesn't just donate money to local nonprofits, employees regularly volunteer for a myriad of organizations. The company has donated laptops and other equipment to neighborhood centers and provided its office space for nonprofits to host events and fund-raisers. The company's latest endeavor is Twitter NeighborNest, a learning center that will be fully staffed by Twitter volunteers and will provide free computer classes (with child care) to anyone in the area.

Comcast Cares Day brings together more than 100,000 employees, families, friends, and local community partners who volunteer their time to make change happen. Comcast's intent is to make a difference globally and locally.

What Can You Transform Today?

It's unlikely that you can make an immediate move from your existing location or dramatically change the office layout overnight. However, there are steps you can take that will transform your office environment into one that more closely supports the needs of your future business and your employees.

Start by involving your employees and asking what kind of environment would support collaboration, innovation, and team building.

What would attract top talent and make those new employees want to come to work here? To what extent does your organization need public and private spaces? Open and closed? Flexible and fixed? Formal and Casual? Who else needs to have access to your office space? What do you want people to feel as they enter your office? What culture do you want to create? What behaviors do you need to harness or change?

The data will allow you to make informed choices about how you respond and redesign your workspace, whether you are on a budget or have a blank check. Ultimately, the future-proof workplace is one that allows all employees to be present (in person or virtually), to work together, learn together, and successfully deliver results.

If you don't have your future-proof workplace plan in place, you're already behind.

Future-Proof Your Company

• Take a hard look at your workspace. Is it future-proof, or does it belong in a Museum? Based on your values, what changes can be made with no financial investment?
• Use the subject of workspace improvement as a way to open up dialogue on other issues as well.
• How does your workspace contribute positively to the culture you aspire to? How does it create obstacles to future viability?
• Host an office “painting party.” What changes can you and your colleagues make with the resources and budget you have available?

Future-Proof Your Career

• What logistical changes can you make in your meetings to foster more productive communication? Experiment! Most people will appreciate the effort, and you'll learn valuable insights.
• Does your personal workspace create optimal productivity? What changes can you make to improve your workspace?
• Think about changing your workspace to allow you to connect and learn from others in new, enjoyable ways.