Say goodbye to devoted desks and hiya to collaborative workspaces.
Extra firms are ditching particular person desks and embracing shared areas, as 62% of employers are aiming for a ratio of 1.5 workers per desk, and the quantity of particular person workspaces has already decreased from 51% in 2021 to 40% in 2024, based on information from the industrial actual property firm CBRE.
US firms are “way behind” different world employers in using shared workspaces, stated Kate Lister, principal at consulting agency International Office Analytics. However with the prospect of shared workspaces chopping area and prices, and growing collaboration, many employers lastly see “what’s in it for me,” Lister instructed HR Brew.
Including extra shared or collaborative workspaces doesn’t imply firms should eradicate devoted desks completely, and consultants shared with HR Brew how optionality helps workers.
Staff need selection. After workers realized how you can be productive remotely in the course of the pandemic, their mindsets shifted round what sort of workspace they wished within the workplace, Lister stated, or what she calls, rethinking their “me space” and “we space.”
Places of work sometimes have extra areas to do particular person work, or me-spaces, with fewer rooms for shared work, or we-spaces, she stated, however as extra workers have environment friendly me-spaces at dwelling, they primarily need we-space within the workplace for collaboration and connecting with coworkers.
In 2020, roughly 60% of workers labored in areas individually assigned to them, based on analysis from actual property analytics agency Leesman. In 2023, that determine dropped to 40% as firms launched unassigned workspaces, like “hot desking,” the place workers shared desks with coworkers.
Rising the variety of shared or unassigned workspaces will help HR convey workers into the workplace, Peggie Rothe, Leesman’s chief insights and analysis officer, instructed HR Brew, as a result of workers need selection of their workspaces for various work duties and their varied “moods.”
“Imagine an environment where there’s different types of areas and spaces, and settings for different types of activities…Those actually outperform the workplaces with dedicated desks,” Rothe stated. “If you have unassigned [workspaces] with good variety, on average, those employees have the best experience, and it’s simply based on…employees can customize their office.”
Lister stated workspace selection consists of each particular person and collaborative choices, like quiet cubicles for targeted work, small non-public rooms for one-on-one conversations, convention rooms for bigger teams, and out of doors areas to gasoline creativity and innovation. Selection additionally helps workers really feel like they’ve management and selection, she added, which improves engagement, productiveness, and stress ranges.
The place HR can begin. The success of incorporating shared workspaces comes right down to “an alliance” between HR, IT, and property administration groups, Lister stated, as a result of they work collectively like a “three-legged stool.”
“If we don’t have the technology to support the work we’re doing, that’s not going to work. If our conference rooms are not well set up for hybrid meetings, it’s not going to work,” she stated. “If real estate sells off the real estate without talking to HR, and believe me, it happens, that’s not going to work either.”
As soon as HR aligns with property administration and IT on how a lot area is allotted and the know-how required, Lister advises folks leaders to judge how conducive each particular person and collaborative workspaces are for neurodiverse workers, which incorporates limiting noise, softening lighting, and reducing distractions.
Jennifer Moss, writer and office strategist, agrees with Lister that firms ought to prioritize neurodiverse workers throughout planning for brand spanking new and current workspaces, and it helps by not taking away all choices for particular person workspaces, after which permitting departments and groups to determine what works finest.
Rising shared areas, like every other new firm coverage, ought to require HR execs to collect worker suggestions, Moss instructed HR Brew. It’s a seemingly “simple action,” she stated, however workers will “get on board faster and adopt these decisions quicker [if] they feel like they have had some agency in the decision.”
Simpler stated than achieved. What folks leaders usually overlook when introducing a brand new method, Lister stated, is change administration, like serving to workers perceive why their workspaces are altering and coaching managers how you can speak with workers concerning the modifications.
“You’ve got to have people understand, why are we doing this, [like]…‘We’re taking away your assigned seat because we need to build these other areas that are physically better for you, better for the environment, better for your concentration, better for productivity,’” Lister stated. “Rather than just saying, ‘Here we’re taking away your desk,’ and that’s what a lot of companies do.”
HR execs themselves are sometimes overlooked of the decision-making course of behind coverage modifications, Moss famous, and so they’re compelled to handle the aftermath with workers. Because of this, she encourages administration to stroll round and get out on the ground with workers, in order that they know you’re there and open to receiving suggestions.
“Maybe, it isn’t that you can change the policy, but how do you make sure that you have really good, easy booking systems? How do you make sure that people have lockers and storage that they might need for their belongings?” she stated. “[Gather] data about what people are feeling, what their pain points are right now…That’s a really great way right now to still, as an HR leader, feel like…you have the ability to improve situations for people on the ground.”
This report was initially printed by HR Brew.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
