Insider 'Ask the Expert': work and workspace   You are here: Home » News

First published by North West Business Insider

Richard Bertram, head of business development at TSK

Q: Does where we work make a positive difference to our work output?

A: Yes – where we work makes a huge difference to our performance.

In a recent TSK survey, 91 per cent of employees said that their physical working environment has a direct impact on their efficiency.

Most of us understand this intuitively and in every area of our lives we create spaces and equip ourselves as well as we can for the task in hand – whether at home, playing sports, out socialising or almost anything else.

Yet, when it comes to work, we often find ourselves using spaces and facilities that have changed little in the past 15 years despite the technological revolution that has taken place in that time.

Those tasked with providing working spaces should always stop and consider what end users need to work at their best – often that space is not a conventional desk and chair.

With technology that allows information to be accessed virtually anywhere, workplaces can be designed to suit both the work we do and how it fits into the wider context of our lives.

Workplace designers today are not simply experts at fitting rows of desks into a given space – their job is to deliver spaces and facilities that will allow and encourage a workplace community to achieve optimum performance.

This is a complex mix with numerous variables and there have been many studies that identify and categorise the different ways in which people solve problems, communicate with each other and manage their time.

By applying this knowledge to a given workplace ecosystem, flexible spaces can be created that meet the multifaceted requirements of the people involved and the tasks they are carrying out.

We have seen it proven by many organisations that taking the time to understand people and how they work – and using this knowledge to provide the right technology and spaces – pays dividends in work output, staff retention and customer satisfaction which far outweigh the costs.

There is a risk that iconic buildings are being prioritised over optimised workplaces. We believe a move towards iconic interiors – not exteriors – will unlock dramatic performance improvements at the same time as cutting estate costs.