Business issues that create workplace trends

I have been in New Zealand so much that I am beginning to wear nothing but black and white. You will note the affect this has had on me at the Christmas party when I break out into the Hakka after a few drinks. Needless to say it has been quite a busy time, so when the request came out to attend a session to discuss workplace trends my first response was, sure I’ll get right on that in my plentiful spare time. Fortunately, it occurred to me that I could kill two birds with one stone and turn this exercise into this months Ramblings. One item off the to do list – 7000 to go.

You can view this months ramblings like the fashion magazine’s yearly “ The big hair issue” except in this case it will be the “Big trends in workplace” issue you have all been waiting for. What I have done is assemble a collection of what I believe are the pressing issues that drive workplace trends. This is after all the purpose of the Ramblings, especially now that the thrill is gone from the secondary purpose of Futures Ramblings - summed up beautifully by my friend Susan in Seattle who wrote in an e mail “It is ALMOST not as fun to poke fun of Bush these days. Since the elections he has been so humble it is nauseating”

One of the challenges we have in identifying workplace trends is the gravitation toward thinking about responses before thoroughly considering the issues that drive the response. Business, social and political issues are catalysts that companies react to, which in turn start trends. We put a desk on wheels to respond to a desire for greater flexibility which is a response to a volatile business climate. This is why I believe it is necessary to consider broader issues as a starting point, mostly because it will give us a greater number of touch points to generate interesting solutions from.

Imagine five blind men trying to describe an elephant. The blind man holding the tail says it is as skinny as a snake, the blind man holding the ear says it is big and thin like a fan, the blind man holding on to the elephants leg says it is strong and solid like a tree trunk – you can see where this goes. It is impossible to effectively define or describe something if you can’t see the big picture. Such is the case with understanding trends, this is why I have formulated what follows into issues. I am hoping that you will begin to see the more of the whole picture, you will begin to see the way the issues link to one another and hopefully by having more to grab on to, will generate many more fantastic ideas for how the physical environment might respond to these problems.


ISSUE ONE- Shrinking talent pool - To focus on recruitment and retention is too limiting, this is a broader issue. There are fewer people to choose from when it comes to finding talent, not only do we need to make sure our clients are able to attract the dwindling source of company sustainability, the cities and countries we live in are in the same boat. They too are trying to attract people, and people attract companies, and companies bring money and then the city thrives. This elevates the discussion a bit. It is not just about getting people to work for our company, but getting them to come to your country or community. What makes them come? assuming we are after young talented knowledge workers they want to be in places where the ‘three T’s’ are present. Talent – more smart people to learn from and hang out with Technology – a government and community that will finance research and development and embrace new technology (e.g. if I am an up and coming biologist am I going to go live in a place where the government will not allow the type of research I want to do, such as stem cell research?). Tolerance – living in an area that tolerates diversity: age, sex, religion, sexual preference. These are the types of communities that will be attracting the next generation of talented workers. What does this mean in terms of environment: We need to create environments for knowledge transfer and to create learning communities that give younger workers exposure to senior workers enabling their careers to advance – this too plays into generational drivers. For the same reasons the environment must be used as a communicating device (perhaps through technology) to let workers know what else is going on within their company and the community, and the world.

ISSUE TWO - Outsourcing / off shoring / partnering - As companies respond to shrinking talent pools and increased competition they will want to leverage themselves for competitive advantage. Particularly in places like New Zealand, a country who is geographically isolated but has an insatiable passion to align with the rest of the world in technology/ consumer goods/ art/ fashion ideas etc. For a small country like NZ to play in the big world scene they need to join forces or partner with others to become a part of a larger community. Increasingly smaller companies and countries are doing this as a means to increase scale and reach. What does it mean in terms of environment – the physical environment will need to accommodate people who do not work for them but are working on projects for specific periods of time. We need to design more ‘partnering rooms’ that can be a home base for employees and outsiders. Technology will need to be better to enable clear inexpensive communications with out sourced, off shore partners (this is why the HP halo communication is making such a big splash) Also security issues will need to be addressed physically and virtually.

ISSUE THREE – Conflict resolution – Not a new idea but one that has hidden impact on how a business will perform. While we cannot make people get along and work together many of our clients hope that the environment can help repair severed bonds (the same way couples think babies will fix there problems perhaps?) Some times there is conflict due to personalities and differences, an extreme case is our client Ngai Tahu who are joining several Maori tribes to come together to promote their culture and business proposition. The issue of conflict resolution or difference is more often seen with companies that have merged and are attempting to create a single culture. What do we do – This one is really tough, going back to the couple analogy perhaps focus on what the common goals are and create an environment that support common values but allow the differences to still exist? E.G. the building and work environment communicates overarching value but each employee has a name tag that is customised, graphics to define groups?

ISSUE FOUR – Technology and technology backlash – While we demand and require great technology that is simple to use and gets beyond security issues, we also need to consider that many people are bloody sick and tired of it. There is a bit of generational differences here too, the younger generations have much more tolerance for multiple points of stimulation. We need to consider environments that provide opportunities to just get away, Cisco has done this in San Jose with the creation of a library space where there is no technology or noise permitted. Do we help our client develop signals and protocol (like PMC did last week with no e mail Friday)? Obviously, creating spaces that foster community – particularly as workers have greater mobility and flexibility in work hours, will encourage face to face communication to augment the great freedom we will have due to technology.

ISSUE FIVE – Consumer activism, awareness, corporate social responsibility - This is a big issue. People are beginning to question authority more and are drawing stronger connections with a companies values and their behaviours. Companies in the US are spending lots of time and energy defending themselves and their motives – taking out full page ads in the New York times to tell everyone they are really good guys and not just a big multi national that only care about money. A while ago I wrote about Wal Mart creating a ‘situation room’ to brainstorm and respond to negative press. The public and employees have greater expectation that companies do not behave the way Enron, WorldCom or the AWB did. What does this mean in terms of environment? – Clear ESD implications, also alignment of brand values to building and workplace image. Provision of community spaces on company premises .

ISSUE SIX – Faith and meaning – As people we are searching for meaning, I am not sure why there is more of this now than before, but there is. There is a definite push in the US toward religion to achieve this – sadly thru fundamentalist views, just as there is with other cultures and religions. Countries like New Zealand and Australia have a large number of new immigrants, and are also seeing more ethnic gang activity and violence. In a simplistic level these gangs are a means of providing community, connection and meaning to people who cannot find another way to fit with the culture – in the US I believe it has more to do with social and economic differences. Others are increasingly finding meaning through other means, such as yoga obsessions, or environmentalism – which has been coined as the new religion. What does this mean – People want a community, people want meaning in their life, particularly gen Y. Work environments must support differences and provide a sense of community that allows each person to feel like they belong.

ISSUE SEVEN – Depression, stress general well being – As I described in last months Future’s Ramblings organizations are now being held responsible for the well being of their employees. About a week ago Michael Greer sent out an article describing an Australian company that was in some hot water because they did not tell their employees before hand that they were shifting from offices to open work settings. What does this mean? Depression and stress are closely related, and we can certainly have an effect by designing workplaces that don’t drive people nuts. It sounds like design 101 but: zoning loud activities away from quiet activates to avoid distraction, use full height spaces as buffers, provide a variety of ‘fit for purpose’ spaces, create areas to decompress, provide good acoustics.