Office refurb costs: 5 overlooked expenses
22 Nov 2024
Published on:
22 July 2019
Updated on:
11 December 2023
Read time:
4 minutes
With the spotlight on corporate culture and how it impacts on current team members, as well as the attraction of future talent, it's good to identify what gives a company its culture; what plays a part in creating that culture and how can we influence the same.
At Office Principles, we believe that the physical work environment is essential to good culture building. If designed mindfully, it can support creative, collaborative and forward thinking values to provide a strong base for a business۪s culture.
Like an actor needs a stage
A culture needs a workplace.
If the workplace is prepped, it can foster and enhance culture. This is the space that will host human interactions and its design can encourage and nurture the same.
Our Design Director, Claire Stant, was recently called to give a talk on culture in the workplace; she focused on what she refers to as the culture canvas in order to cohesively share her thoughts.
The Culture Canvas
With the age of retirement increasing and people choosing to work longer, there are now five generations operating across the workplace: Generation Z is the most recent addition, incorporating those born since 1996; Millenials, or Generation Y, are born between 1977 and 1995; Generation X covers those born between 1965 and 1976, while Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. There are also some Traditionalists still in play; the term reserved for those whose birth dates precede 1946.
There's a generation that is in waiting: Generation Alpha too. Children of the millennials, these future workers are born in and after 2011 and will have been fully immersed in technology from the moment they are born.
It's a mixed and colourful canvas and so we need to create a workplace that supports them all.
In it together
This workplace needs to enable the mix of ages to come together, catering for their varying needs in the best way to allow them to thrive, share knowledge and feel comfortable. While achieving those goals, it also needs to support these individuals in staying focused and working with the technology that will help them to be more efficient and productive.
There is one simple way to attaining all of the above.
Choice
A mixed bag of workers need choice and lots of it!
There needs to be an eclectic selection of spaces quiet and busy, open and closed. Shared working environments; long benches and single desks; comfy sofas and chairs and sit stand stations.
What this gives us, most importantly, is empowerment; we get to choose where and how we work.
Future forward
We have hit a period where co-working is common and there are many new start-ups, happy to move around, thanks to mobile technology. In fact, co-working workspaces have increased at an unparalleled rate.
We have enjoyed a period of flexibility which saw the rise of the coffee shop co-worker, along with those who have indulged a preference to work from home. Now, those individuals are happy to bring it back in as long as the environment is right.
With workplaces now prioritising space, along with increased spend on tech devices to aid communication and collaboration, we are on our way to reimagining the workplaces of the future and making them a reality.