Fred Cook - Chief information officer, BlueShore Financial
In order to create a successful workspace for employees, whether it is open- or closed-concept, you first need to evaluate your corporate culture and determine what will work best for your team’s specific needs. When considering planning your workspace, first ask yourself what your team’s working styles are. What are their personalities? What are their business needs, and the needs of the business as a whole? Only once these needs have been identified can you move forward with developing a workspace that will benefit your organization.
When considering the design for BlueShore Financial’s new head office, for example, we found that our employees craved a focused and personalized workspace that they could call their own, yet also valued opportunities for collaboration both within their own teams and throughout the office. Therefore we kept individual workspaces more traditional, but when designing group areas such as meeting spaces, staff retreats and our boardroom, collaboration was top of mind. We chose unique design elements such as glass meeting rooms, bamboo and art glass walls, skylights and an outdoor meeting pavilion to convey our culture of transparency, innovation and openness.
Our space-conscious design not only offers a physically open atmosphere, but also allows employees to see others interacting, collaborating and sharing ideas, bringing that energy out into the open. Social areas for meetings or meals also help to encourage smaller team meet-ups and group conversation, injecting a sense of community and teamwork into the office.
Our goal is to facilitate a sharing of energy and ideas, which ultimately encourages innovation and collaboration to drive our business forward.
Darryl Bosa - Founder, Spacekraft
In the co-working world, private offices are highly sought after and, more often than not, are the first to sell out. But for a majority of the small-business owners and entrepreneurs that come through, the communal open spaces effectively become impact zones where collaboration thrives.
The bulk of co-working spaces are open-concept, allowing small-business owners, entrepreneurs and freelancers alike to communicate, network and troubleshoot together. This collaboration is integral to co-working spaces and gives members the opportunity to experience something they would likely not within a larger business or corporation.
The open work, meeting, lounge and recreation spaces encourage a level of collaboration and communication that you wouldn’t get from the traditional closed-off workspaces. Without the traditional barriers of a closed office, we’ve seen people from very different backgrounds, industries and skill sets naturally coming together and producing new ideas, solutions and, in some cases, businesses.
Where co-working spaces hold a significant advantage over other open-concept work environments is in their flexibility. You might not have an office door, but socializing with your neighbours isn’t obligatory. Members of the space can choose when and how they interact with others, as well as where they enjoy working best.
Sharing in each other’s successes, letdowns and eureka moments is what helps us learn better and faster. Collaboration lights the fire for creativity and keeps those new ideas flowing, motivating us to keep pushing to see what’s around the next corner.
Dan Jordan - Vice-president, Colliers International Canada
As workplace needs, demands and trends evolve, it’s becoming more common to see businesses considering whether an open workspace is right for them. Discussion around enhancing a team’s productivity and job satisfaction are relevant points to consider, and a more open work environment has helped certain businesses work more collaboratively. However, this approach is not always going to be the perfect solution for every business. The move to an open workspace has to be done right and ultimately depends on the type of work being performed.
Something that is often overlooked when thinking of making a change to an open workspace is that there are certain tradeoffs a business will need to prepare for. For instance, if you take a square foot away from someone in one place (the private office), then you need to give it back to employees elsewhere. This could mean more access to small meeting rooms, or quiet rooms that can be used when needed. It could also mean incorporating more attractive social areas, like a kitchen lounge or better amenities.
Business owners should first determine whether the business has the flexibility to manage the give and take that can arise from adopting an open space. Additionally, if this is a direction your business is thinking of pursuing, it is often helpful to take an upfront consultative or collaborative approach with staff, which can help with the change management process.
In the end, for those companies for which it is a fit, an open workspace can result in major payoffs, such as a more connected team, a more efficient pace of work and an environment that naturally helps to foster creativity – all ingredients that help to propel a business to success.
