Member Article

How to develop a multi-modal office space for your diverse workforce

By Simon Gammell, Director - UK & Ireland, Crown Workspace

In the ten years to 2016, the number of people starting apprenticeships in the UK increased by 191% to over 500,000. This has contributed significantly to more people entering the workplace at a young age rather than pursuing further education. At the same time, almost one third of the UK workforce is now over 50, compared to just one in five in the early ’90s. With more people living longer and the State Pension Age rising, the number of older workers is also on the up.

The growing diversity of workers is something that all businesses need to come to terms with. Different generations often require different things from their work life, and from the form and function of their workspace.

Diverse workforces need diverse workspaces

Recent research by the CIPD pointed to key differences in generational workplace attitudes, showing just how diverse a workforce can be. For example, Baby Boomers and Gen X seek more cohesion and teamwork and are more loyal than others. This suggests, while they desire a collaborative workspace, they still cherish their own personal desk space as they are there for the long term.

Millennials on the other hand are more about technology and multi-tasking, happy to work in the midst of many distractions. They’re more comfortable in an environment that offers many types of work areas, from a chill out zone to a food grazing station to a stand-up meeting pod!

Achieving multi-modality

Clearly, multi-modality is a common consideration in the modern workplace. A large enterprise with huge workspace budgets such as Google or Amazon can easily afford to splash out on all of the latest layouts, work-pods, equipment and technology. These all help to make their workspaces highly productive and appealing to their workforce demographic. They also help to create allegiance and loyalty to the brand.

Smaller organisations find it hard to embrace this diversity in their office designs and equipment – despite them also needing a more multi-modal environment for different types of workers. In our own recent research at Crown Workspace - The Missed Middle - we looked at the challenges faced by SMEs when it comes to designing and creating the optimal work environment. Many told us they felt held back in this area, making it harder for them to compete on a number of fronts.

For example, 92% of companies surveyed with a turnover above £50m felt they had access to designer offices, however only 54% with a sub £1m turnover didn’t. 68% of business owners were concerned that their current working environment is limiting employee engagement. A flexible or hybrid working space was considered the most important factor when it came to attracting talent.

Five tips to office optimisation

With this in mind, here are five key tips to optimising your office space for multi-modal working based on our research:

1. Gather your insights – you can’t plan your office improvements until you understand what your workforce wants from the space, and know what options are out there. Running an employee survey is a great way to find out more, as is tapping into expert advice via events and publications.
2. Consider going hybrid – if your insight shows that your diverse workforce require different things from their workspace, consider how you can create a hybrid environment with ‘zones’ for a variety of uses.
3. Choose useful technology – it’s easy to get carried away when making your office environment more hi-tech. This can soon turn into an expensive case of technology for technology’s sake. Technology is essential but should match what people want and need.
4. Think ‘productivity’ – the ultimate goal for most workspaces will be to increase productivity. Any workspace changes should keep this front of mind. Form and function should come before fashion!
5. Find your style – making your office more multi-modal doesn’t necessarily mean new jazzy colour schemes or dynamic design – but it could! What’s important is that the style of your office matches your brand, your people and the work you do.

Developing a multi-modal office space can bring huge benefits to a business but it doesn’t have to mean expensive changes. If you focus on the things that really matter they will pay you back in a variety of ways such as retaining high quality talent and achieving growth.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lottie Buckley .