The workplace design firm Gensler not only works with companies to create more efficient workspaces, they also have been working on methodologies for measuring their impacts on corporate needs.
Back in March 2006, with the help of professional survey firm D/R Added Value, they polled over 2,000 office workers (selected from a pool of over 8,000 to achieve a representative sample) about their workplaces. Here are some results:
Workplace and empowering creativity:
- 90% of American workers believe that workplace design affects their productivity
- 50% of workers say their current office environment empowers them to innovate
- 49% of workers said that they would work an extra hour per day if they had a better work environment
- 33% say workplace improvements are a priority at their company
- The average office worker feels he or she has less time to think than they did five years ago
Where and how people work effectively:
- 84% of employees say they accomplish their best work at the office
- 12% of workers say they do their best work at home
- 67% said they were more efficient at developing ideas when collaborating closely with co-workers
- 80% of workers feel technology has enhanced their workplace environment (including desktop computers, mobile phones, video conferencing, wireless access, and mobile e-mail devices)
Who works in offices and what do they do all day (in this survey):
- 42 years old is the average age of an office worker
- 6.3 years is the average time they have been at their job
- 210 is the average number of employees a person works with in the same office
- 13% was the average amount of work time spent answering e-mail
- 14% was the average amount of time spent on the phone
- 20% was the time spent in meetings
While this survey was likely biased toward larger companies, the results offer useful insight into workplaces generally, but especially for the larger companies.
The data that I found most provocative was that while 90% of people feel their workplace is important to their productivity, only 33% see this as a priority at their company.
Could there be a lot of lost productivity from poor or anachronistic office design?
Does your workplace enhance or hamper your productivity?
September 8th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Only 12% of people surveyed feel they do their best work at home? I work full-time from home and have never worked harder or longer hours or cranked out more products. When I worked at an office, interruptions abounded.
Of course, I don’t have kids or a pet. Maybe those factors have something to do with people feeling as though they can’t function as effectively outside of the office.
September 8th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Hi Elizabeth, the 12% doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen the stat of 10% seeing it as viable and efficient in other surveys about full-time telecommuting from various industrialized countries.
As you suggest, one reason that so few people find it efficient to work at home is having kids. Even when mine are not there — or sleeping — it can be tough to ignore the laundry piling up, the toys scattered everywhere, etc. and just work.
Another reason may be that people who live in smaller homes (condos, townhomes, etc.), which is a growing trend, and who don’t have a dedicated workspace, find it hard to focus on work, the TV too tempting, etc. Some people just like to separate work and home — being able to leave work on your desk and “un plug” is popular.
For me, some work is best done away from the office, or in the evening when my brain works differently — “big thinking” and “big writing,” for example. But, I gather a lot of the ideas needed for that work while at the office — the collaboration and “more brains” being better than one brain at generating ideas phenomena.
And, some of my management / team lead responsibilities also cannot be done from home. Face time is essential. So is having many of the people who can help me right there.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Wendy - Great post. All the stuff on workers wanting better space makes intuitive sense. What surprised me is that workers said they are more productive in the office then at home. My hunch would have been that at least a significant subset of folks prefer to work, and are more productive, at home.
I think the workplace is also undergoing a tremendous shift. For one, I seldom use my office. Our space at the Institute is mainly open plan (no cubicles, please) with lounge space/ library, and a coffee-bar/ kitchen, and reconfigurable project rooms. Our folks love it.
But I find I use it mainly for meetings and team building. When I want to write I need isolation, and can get more of that at home or in a coffee shop, or better yet on the plane.
I wonder when workspaces will be more disaggregated, in residential buildings and on street corners.
We have to be able to do better than the coffee shop, a great hotel lobby or airport lounge is better… But we can do even better than that.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
To take this line of inquiry further, Gensler & Co. could separate out a few variables for: requirements of the job, individual personality, and home life.
September 8th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
My favourite place to write (or do anything else on the laptop where I need to get into “flow” mode) is a busy library where there’s enough of a din that it’s all white noise. If it’s too quiet I don’t get energized enough - I feed off the buzz of having people around, as long as I can’t make out any distinct, distracting conversation.
I working on a big table - a place I can spread out all my papers and notes.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
On RF’s intrigue that the number who find home more productive is so low:
This doesn’t surprise me. Keep in mind that most people in the workforce are not like us — they don’t write English prose for a living.
When I’ve toured different workplaces, I’ve seen quite different atmospheres. At places where people produce business software or video games, for example, they are hives of collaborative activity. It would be very hard for most people to work from home, even if they could log into a central computer. People are communicating at multiple levels simultaneously — voice, instant messaging, a head nod, etc. An architectural firm I know seems to have people drafting but also asking questions and enjoying the buzz.
Actually, a call centre I toured (higher end one) wasn’t that different - some people were on the phone, others answering e-mails, but there was constant communication between people as they learned more to help clients.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Ian’s favourite place is interesting. I often find it similarly productive to work in a public place, but where I don’t really know any of the others around. I think it’s because I almost have to force my way through writer’s block. At home, when I get stuck, it’s too easy to get distracted and end up walking away from the work.
From reviews of newer mobile, flexible workplaces, such as Capital One, I’ve read similar observations from the workers. They liked working in the shared spaces because there was a buzz, and, unstated but likely, that slight extra accountability from people watching that helps keep the focus.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Zoe - Thanks for the comment. Gensler has done some subsequent research, which I’m trying to track down. Also, for a future post I’ll try to find some stats I’ve seen from the UK which may address your questions of what people do, and where they prefer to do it.
If anyone knows of other studies, please send them to me (docwaters@shaw.ca).
September 9th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Madeline Bunting has written a great book called “Willing Slaves” on what is known as the “work-life balance”. She quotes working from home as another element of privatisation. It’s sold to workers as a way of saving time and fuel costs, when the savings to employers through not having to rent office space, heat, light, provide any health and safety cover, insurance etc is immense - and those savings aren’t passed on to workers in higher wages to cover the increased heating and lighting costs that workers then have to pay. As Wendy points out, homeworking can only apply to a small proportion of workers. Try breaking atoms in your study. Or don’t.
Coincidentally, I’ve been looking through the literature of an urban design practice I’ve applied for a job with. It mentions similar studies (but UK based and older). There’s no direct reference, but it’s referred to as the Management Today Workspace Satisfaction Survey” from 2003. It says nearly half of respondents said they would relinquish one week’s annual leave for a better office (bear in mind we get much more holiday than you do in the US!) or forgo £1000 (that’s around £2000?) in salary for a significantly upgraded workplace. 85% said the workplace is a key indicator of a company’s culture, but only 47% were prepared to bring clients to their place of work.
The same literature cracks on about how creative a company they are, and how they want creative people. Yet short of a few statements on inspiring offices, measures to improve work-life balance and stimulate diversity, it’s slight on detail. I’ll grill them at my interview, if I’m offered one…
October 7th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
hi i am currently in the process of writting my disseration on how design in the work place affects productivity. i am in particluar focusing on call centres. i would be grateful for any help that can be offered to steer me in the right direction