A trendy office environment as an HR solution?

It is not cool to work for a public organisation

A noteworthy article was published in the Cologne Herald on the 24Th of February 2017. The tenor in this article was: in Cologne – one in eight jobs vacancies cannot be fulfilled anymore. Applicants simply don’t respond anymore. As a cause was mentioned that ‘they’ no longer think it is cool to work for public organisations! Local councils will have to do more in order to make it attractive for existing and new employees to join them.

1903

The first office as we know it, was the Larkin building in Buffalo, New York in 1903, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The basic design principle of the office was a traditional management structure and to be as efficient and productive as possible. Offices have further evolved over the past hundred years and are more efficient. Real innovations in the field of the new way of working or agile working as we call it today only came about in the nineties. These innovations only really took off after 2005. It seemed a utopia, but it is now possible to work when and where you want.

The reality

Sooner rather than later the through and through digital generation will come to the labour market. The baby boomers will soon retire, they will make way for the generation Y. Everything is digital: media, social contact, memory, games and the consumption. The new generation does no longer fit the over a century-old way of working. The municipality of Essen (Germany) knows that before 2024 40% of the 9,000 employees will retire! S work to be done for HRM department!

What does agile working bring?

Revitalisation of the office environment is an important tool for organisations to attract the new generations of employees. Commercial interior designers in Glasgow need to work on a new office concept to appeal to the new generation. From workplace to work lounge, towards a dynamic working environment. These new insights will help us to renew. What does this mean? More transparency and more openness, as well as less absenteeism. Ingredients for fit and happy employees and a better cost control. One thing is certain: fit and happy employees perform considerably better!

A trendy working environment as an HR solution?

If you as a HR Director or manager are faced with a high rate of absenteeism, low productivity, low customer focus and a lack of innovation strength, then you will realise that the competitiveness can seriosly come under pressure. “Oh well, no worries! The office refurbishement is on it’s way and with the new trendy industrial or vintage look-and-feel, everyone will be working in flow again soon.” Or maybe not?

Burn-out

When the interior design and office furniture in Glasgow does not fit the needs of employees, chances are that flow will not be achieved. Working in a trendy space often means working in an openplan space. Without a well thought through interior design and spaceplan an open space can restrict flow tremendously. Noise may lead to decreased concentration and causes mutual irritations. Productivity, customer focus and collaboration will suffer as a consequence. You constantly feel overlooked in an open workspace and that does not contribute to confidence. In the longer term this will lead to burn-outs with long-term sickness absence. The causes of these complaints are then almost unsolvable by HR.

With employees who feel good in their own skin, an organisation can stand out from the competition. A work environment has great impact on the well-being of employees and therfore needs carefull consideration.

Engage your employees in this process

Designing a new working environment requires a careful process. The advice is to engage your employees in this process. Employees  known best themselves about work, and their own needs. Engagement in the process leads to better results: less absenteeism, and higher productivity, customer service and more creativity and innovative strength.