Why WFH? The activity-based workspace model that can boost your business’ productivity
Over the last year, businesses have had to think more deeply about flexible working. Yet, too often, the debate is binary, stuck in a home or office-based working, or at best, a hybrid of the two. This represents a missed opportunity to drive behaviours, align strategy, and hone in on the benefits of both ways of working, which can seriously benefit employees and businesses alike.
I'll share a story with you.
In 2016, I was working with a company whose lease on their office was about to expire. So, with a forward-thinking CEO leading the way, the chance to re-think the workspace was seized. We took the opportunity to really get to know how we could amplify employee experience by fully understanding how they like to work.
Exploring how our employees work, their behaviours and habits, we created an activity-based work model to inform the office design. With a detailed change management plan, we empowered our employees to choose from eight work modes. And multiple workspaces to support the work they needed to do. Several years on – and with additional post-Covid and advanced Hybrid insight – I’m here to share what we did and how we did it with you.
Introducing activity-based work modes
It’s easy for senior leaders to make assumptions about how employees work. But the thing with assumptions, they aren’t always right. And when you’re investing serious money into your workspace intending to drive engagement and productivity, incorrect assumptions will be expensive.
So, how to avoid that? I’d recommend taking a bottom-up approach. Talk to your employees to find out about the work they do and the groups they typically work in for different tasks. Build a complete understanding of the activities associated with every job role in the business. And gain insight into the workspaces needed to support them.
This is what we did, and the research produced eight different work modes, each neatly matching one of our company values. The eight work modes were then split into recommended work from home or the office to make it super clear to employees what the expectations were for each type of activity.
A new office lease put this company in the enviable position of being able to remodel the working environment. Working with experts in interior design, we used the work modes to inspire the redesign of the London office to include a range of different spaces. Within the office environment, employees can choose to work from:
18 workstations and desks for individual, focused work
Tech-free zones for quiet time or socialising
Small and large meeting rooms for more intimate meetings and bigger groups, collaboration, training and presentations
Dens, Study Booths and a Snug for one-on-ones and individual work
With so many different workspaces, employees could move from one place to another. This supports the work they’re doing throughout their office-based days. And employees know exactly why and when to work from home and the types of activities and projects suitable for carrying out there.
Clarity brings comfort plus a range of other benefits
Providing clear internal communications and guidance around the workspaces you have does much more than help your employees succeed in their roles. Being clear about where to work and when delivers other advantages too:
Clear direction gives people permission to work in the place that’s right for their day. This removes any guesswork and anxiety about doing so or making the wrong decision, supports mental health and frees them to focus on work.
Concerns about presenteeism will be reduced, and productivity will be boosted. When people know they don’t have to be seen to be trusted, they’ll feel free to work from wherever makes the most sense.
Giving your team the tools to make the right decisions about how and where they work builds trust. Which leads to higher levels of engagement and performance.
Manager decision-making will be reduced and confidence in your policy increased with everyone on the same page and employees self-directing, freeing up time and headspace for other priorities.
My key learnings from launching activity-based working
I worked with this company for a long time, enough to see how the strategy had to evolve to support a growing work force and be rolled out to seven other offices globally. Here’s some additional points to think about:
Don’t mention hot-desking – if you decide to take a more flexible approach to desks, avoid the name ‘hot-desking’. This can make people feel that something’s being taken away. Instead, talk about working more flexibly or agile working.
Onboard new hires in the building – onboarding can be delivered remotely or in person, but we found that face-to-face is best. I recommend all inductions in the office with full, in-person support from the manager. Give them a proper office tour, and be sure to highlight all the ways it’s been designed to help them excel in their role.
Start small – iterate continuously. Invite a few employees to give feedback regularly to ensure work modes and spaces support delivery. Then, adapt to meet changing needs.
Define good meeting etiquette – online meetings are here to stay, so think about what makes a great online meeting and ask your people to share what works for them, too. I’ve communicated tips – like ‘make a conscious effort to ensure a balance of voices’ – to help teams hold better calls.
Change takes time – I’m constantly reminding clients of the importance of allowing everyone to adjust to change. I’d recommend giving managers at least four weeks to review our refreshed work modes guide. I always provide employees with a one-pager to help them shape their work days and quickly remind them where to work for whatever they have planned that week.
Measure success – I love it when people start using work mode language inn their day to day, this is a tru sign of it being successfully embedded. For example, with this company, one work mode was ‘Plugged-In’, and you’d start to see people add ‘plugged-in’ meetings to their diaries. The second is by measuring survey. The surveys helped reveal what was working and what needed to be tweaked.
Making your workspace POP!
Your workspace will likely be a big investment, so it’s critical that it works for employees. To make the most of your space, you need to understand what your employees do and how they work. Only by doing this will you be adequately enabled to use your workspace best and create spaces that help your teams succeed.
Complimenting this with continued internal communications that reinforce the workmodes, where and why employees should plan to work, and the change will begin to stick he modes, where and why employees should plan to work. The change will begin to stick, helping your business thrive and making your workspace POP!
If you want to learn more about discovering your business’ work modes, talk to us about our one-day workshop and how you modernise your ways of working.
