Four Considerations to Reposition Your Workplace Environment
Many business leaders are considering how to reposition their approach to the workplace environment. Here are four key conversation points:
- Training
- Connectivity
- Community
- Mentorship
How can you consider training in the next iteration of your workspace?
Support for training is critical to your employee’s workplace experience. Now is the time to consider the types of work settings you need to support your goals. Here are some questions to consider:
- Is your training face-to-face, screen-based, or demonstration-based?
- How do you need to connect to your staff on a training level?
- Do you prefer individual or group-based training?
Workplace design trend: Training spaces that support the individual.
Did you know? Workplace design is moving away from formal classroom and auditorium configurations focusing on the presenter. Instead, personal device-based training is more effective.
As a full-service design-build firm, Formcraft works with organizations to guide conversations around training. For example, our client Tenneco wanted to incorporate training spaces into their new office. Formcraft designed a training area that seated 60 people, and it was divisible via an operable partition to break the area into two smaller training rooms as needed. Intended for internal use, their space can host company and partner events, allowing Tenneco to foster relationships with its customers.
How can you consider connectivity in the next iteration of your workspace?
Connectivity is more important than ever in an increasingly hybrid work economy. Now is the time to think about how you want people to connect in your workplace. Leaders’ biggest mistake with flexible, connected spaces forgets to share expectations with their employees. You can’t use space to connect if you don’t know the purpose of the space. Be transparent about expectations, organize on a policy, and encourage leaders to model desired use of the space.
Consider this: Conduct a survey or interview your employees about how they want to connect with your future space. Getting ahead of these critical change management decisions helps define your vision.
How can you consider the community in the next iteration of your workspace?
The sense of community in your workspace strongly impacts employee engagement and positive organizational culture. Now is the time to think about the types of work settings you need to foster a sense of community in your workspace. Here are some things to consider:
- Create spaces that focus on brand, comfort, and warmth.
- Aim for equality in your physical working environment.
- Create flexible spaces where people are encouraged and empowered to adjust their work settings to fit their needs.
Workplace design trend: Create residentially comfortable spaces and feel at home. For more design trends, please read our blog: Office Renovation Ideas for 2021.
How can you consider mentorship in the next iteration of your workspace?
Lack of access to mentorship and a clear path for career development has been identified as one of the biggest challenges of working in a remote environment. Now is the time to think about ways to create environments and policies that allow people to perceive professional and personal growth. Like most interpersonal, relationship-focused interactions, mentorship is more meaningful face-to-face. Leaders’ biggest mistake is forgetting to establish a clear path forward for employees. You will struggle to retain valuable leaders in development if your workplace does not support their growth. Encourage connectivity, provide a strong, positive organizational culture, and offer access to established, respected leaders for guidance and feedback for development.
One industry in particular that relies heavily on mentorship is the legal industry. At the beginning of the year, we hosted a Tenant Talks event with local Philadelphia managing partners to discuss the importance of in-person work settings to enrich mentoring relationships. Learn more about this topic here.
We understand the complexity of these four topics and help facilitate conversations you need to have with your internal team. We look forward to working to prepare you and your team to have educated, structured conversations to communicate your vision with your team.
For a free workplace consultation, get in touch with us.
