When the workplace environment is improved, employee turnover is increasing by 19 percent. 79 percent of employees say office quality is effective in job satisfaction. One in every three employees says the working environment is decisive in the decision of accepting a job or not. These results come out of the research done by the Gensler company, revealing the importance of office design. In today’s business environment where even a one-point increase in productivity is a matter of life-and-death, finding and protecting good employees becomes extremely critical, office design is beginning to take place among the competition weapons of companies.
Gensler, one of the world’s leading architectural, design, planning and consulting firms, has done an interesting research on the cost of ill-conceived offices in the UK, including law, financial services and the media sector. The result of this research is also striking; the cost of poorly designed offices for the British business world can reach up to 135 billion sterling per year.
Gary Wheeler, director of the study, says that the high-value professionals participating in the survey said their productivity would increase by 19 per cent in a better working environment. 4 professionals out of 5 emphasize that the quality of the working environment is very important for job satisfaction, but they do not believe that the offices they work with support the company’s business or the functions of its own business. One out of five employees is embarrassed to show their office to the customers.
Wheeler emphasizes that the working environment is indeed a major influence on recruitment, retention, productivity and the success of the organization in its business strategy. “Business leaders should consider assets not as a fixed or extra cost but as a property for the better and more effective work of people with real values in their business,” he says.
No single office type
There is a close connection between office design and business efficiency and events. SPGA is a British design company. Sevil Peach, one of his partners, agrees to the existence of this bond but says, “The reasons are not so simple and clear.” It draws attention to the fact that causes vary depending on the institution, the way they do business, and the environment.
It says that there is not a single office type better for productivity, an office needs to respond to many variables. These variables vary according to each company. He comments “We get the the best results in the situations that the environment reflects and supports the company’s goals and the needs of the company and its employees”.
According to Peach, Taylor’s approach to working in many sectors is clearly evolving. As a result, in the working environment, hierarchy, field standards, repetitive drawings, static arrangements, designated tasks are increasingly involved in the past. Flexibility and multifunctionality become more necessary to be competitive in the modern global economy. On the individual level, diversity, empowerment, free will and individual sovereignty are among the increasingly important issues.,
Design influences emotions
Especially in recent years, the importance of office design is increasing all over the world. Guran Gokyay the General Manager of Nurus points out the importance of furniture, space and people relations in office design. Gökyay says, “The designs of the objects in the environment make them more attractive than their functions. The designs of the products can help the users to be emotionally close to them. ” According to him, finding comfort in the places where they work, enjoying the environment raises the quality of the time spent in the workplace and brings along efficiency.
He also emphasizes that during the last decade while developing office furniture , they mainly deal with the human factor, not only physically but emotionally. He connects it with taking up seriously the slogan “motivation design”. “We do not design for offices but primarily for people, and we know that people are happier and more productive in these environments.” He says.
It is also true that the investment in office design and office furniture reflects positive balance at the end of the year. Gokyay concludes: ” In recent years, satisfactory working environments will continue to grow, based on the needs and desires of employees, as well as elements that reflect corporate identity in office designs.”
Sector difference in design
Office designs can vary according to the sectors. For example, while special sections are used in sectors where individual work is needed, open offices are available where the employees can communicate with each other at any moment can be effective in sectors such as journalism or advertising. Ari Doruk, Chairman of Net Architects, says that companies in the same sector and in different business strategies can make office designs differently.
For this, it is necessary to investigate the working system of the company, the identity of the corporation, the place of the market very well. As an example,Doruk mentions the law offices. In these offices, hot, acoustically isolated spaces that can be preferred, He indicates.Technology companies prefer designs that are made up of more technological materials.
But Doruk, nevertheless, are not on the side of going to a limitation.
“Offices must designed like cities. Because every department in a company has a function in itself, and the vast majority of departments have complex relationships. “He says. When complex relationships between departments are well resolved, the performance and speed of work can be increased. This brings along productivity.
Employee also demands
Companies in Turkey, especially institutional capacity building renovate their office within the framework of this structure and they continue to renovate. Vendo Managing Partner Gozde Canbulan Morera says that the renovation of office designs is also a source of competition in the sectors and that innovations are being done to bring companies to a certain standard. “Companies know that if they can not renovate themselves in line with standards, that is, to create efficient working environments, the chances of competition in the sector will be drastically reduced.”She says. She also emphasizes that architects have a big role in this area and they are very successful in directing companies. She draws attention to the creation of the most efficient working environments in terms of the advice of architects and furniture suppliers in the renewal phase.
According to Morera, there is a demand from employees changing of office design, but this demand is not direct but indirect. As the employees’ inconvenience is already reflected in their work efficiency, it is natural for company owners to make such a change. The biggest verbal complaints are about ergonomics. The discomforts that arise as a result of the lack of orthopedic, healthy seating groups that are suitable for dynamic and human anatomy are also evident. Morera, “Therefore, more attention is paid to seating groups. It is preferred that the backrest, head and arm height can be adjusted according to the size of the working person, and the seats that support it by grasping properly.”
Technology is efficient in efficiency
Seven Peach, an SPGA partner, emphasizes that technology and developments in this area are a huge impact on office design and productivity. Technology makes it possible work almost everywhere, although there are some limitations, but nobody is chain-bound to work. She approaches to the topic with the comment ” This flexibility, without loss of productivity, allows designers to consider the meaning of work, how we work and the environments we work in and re-evaluate it in a different way. ”
Another point that Peach is paying attention to is the home office, which is popularized by the excitement of discovering this new freedom of movement stemming from technology. But Peach’s approach to this issue is different. “Although we all like working at home, I do not believe that working at home or on the move will take the place of office needs,” he says. He says that offices still have a significant business need and that they will continue to meet social needs, that working is a friendship and social interaction, effective working, communication and collaboration matrix. He completes his words with “Creating and mutually sharing on a human basis still plays an important role in the success of both the institution and the individual. For this reason, intelligent, emotional and human work environments are created to direct employees to enjoy it as part of the community with colleagues. ”
Sevil Peach / Spga Partner
How should an Efficient Office Design be?
Common themes
Increasingly common themes for all jobs and sectors are communication, linkage, interaction, teamwork, sharing of information, quick decision making and fast paced intervention. Today’s office has to support all these business goals and create a humanistic and enjoyable environment that targets the methods of working 7 days a week and 24 hours a day.
Must be Inspired
The business environment has to be binding and surprising. They must inspire, motivate, welcoming, and encourage creativity. It should create a sense of ownership, comfort and self-reliance, with the desire to collaborate and with common conscious support, flexibility, adaptability and openness to change.
Must present Differences
We do not believe that we should be the only form of work. Business environments should be aware of all of us working in different ways during the day and reflect this. It should allow people to choose their workplace and the equipment that best fits their business. They should offer different business environments and concepts, and allow them to work as individuals, in teams, in a concentrated environment and in communication.
