HR Magazine - Levitt Consulting

A Humanistic
Approach to
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&
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New office designs can
boost employee
BY DOTT'TINIC BNNCIVENGA
he next, greatest idea for Hewlett-Packard Co.'s multifuncionpinter/fax,/copy machines and high performance ink
jet printers may be bom on a new sort of boulevard for
dreamers.
communication and
productivity while
cutting overhead.
But organizations can't
Nestled in a 1.1-million-square-foot research and development
facility about 25 miles north of San Diego-amid 3,000 ofEce cubicles-sit 14 environmental engineers and site services employees'
They spend their days in an open area filled with portable fumiture. Their work space is a free-form enperiment where teamwork
is emphasized and personal space is kept to a
minimum.
Cutting through the area is a boulelard, where Sroups of computer and engineering employees from other divisions can congregate on
thet
way to the coffee machine to informally discuss ideas
and approaches to new Projects.
"It's kind of a research and development program
truly take advantage of
for office
Robert C. Jakubowski, a Hewlett-Packard Co'
environments,"
workplace strategist. "We are creating more oPen space for teams
says
where people can interact impromptu."
those cutting-edge designs
This pilot project, one of seven ongoing at the site, began in
companies
June 1997. It is one of many office design oiperiments
are conducting to trim real estate costs and improve communica-
unless HR gets involved.
tion, performance and productivity.
In some cases, companies are abandoning the onesize'fits-all
concept of using either cubicles or offices. Instea4 they are adopting a hybrid approach in which oPen sPaces--{omplete with video
and projection screens-are available for team projects and group
58 HRMAcAzINT Mancs 1998
discussions, and private spaces are used
for work that requires
deep concentration. Employees who need solitude may have their
own offices. Those who do not may-for short periods-use small
portable booths, such as the "personal harbors" developed by
Steelcase Inc.
\Arhile these nerv approaches to offrce space may produce
dif
ferent space configurations, the,y share a critical element: They
r,r,ork bestlvhen HR is involved in the process. \{-hen most organizations are designing office spaces, they need to consider their
employees-their human resources-and the way *rose indir''iduals
do theirjobs. And drat means HR professionals are, or should be,
included in the office redesigr teams from the outset as a matter
of successful business strategy.
"The HR professional is the key to the success of projects like
this," says.|akuborvski. "It's tr,vo sides of the same coin."
Or.,rnconmvc PAST DESTcN MrsrAr(ES
When companies introduced the cubicle concept in the late
1970s, they failed to tie design to employee productivit,v.
Employers "didn't change the work environment" lvhen they
M,A.nr:H
1998 HRNLILr\7tNE
69
t
added cubicles, says Gary E. Wheeler, former president of the
American Society of Interior Designers and the national director
for interiors at Perkins & Wi[, an architecture, engineering and
interiors firm based in Chicago. "About five or six years ago,
companies said, 'This isn't soMng a problem, it's actually creating more problems."'
Cubicles-which were intended to improve communicaLionoften had the opposite effect because employees became concerned about priracy.
"If people can't control the communication, they actually communicate less," says Bill Sims, a Cornell University professor of
facility management and planning. Sims is also the author of Team
Space: Creating and Managing Enuironment To Support Highly
Productiae Teamwork, to be published by the International
Development Research Council in Atlanta this month.
To solve the problems caused by cubicles, orgarrizations need to
transforrn their physical offices to ones that encourage cooperative
work. Companies need to adopt a "caves and common areas"
approach. This provides employees small, quiet places to work,
as
as
well
their own tearn areas for spontaneous collaborztion, Sims says.
For example, o{fices might include more open space and dedi
cated project rooms. By setting aside rooms for the duration of a
project, rather than scheduling them hourly, employers allow
workers to keep brainstorming and development ideas posted
as
long as they wish, which should help them remain focused on a
specific mission.
The key is to integrate the physical environment with technolo
gy, management practices and work practices. This allows employees
to move where they are needed and "to work where they are
the most productive a:rd will be supported," Sims says.
Evaluation of work space begins with thejob, experts say. Some
70 HRMAGAZTNE MARCH 1998
jobs dictate that an employee always have an of;fice. In other jobs,
employees frequently interact with coworkers and should probably work in open spaces. For example, softlvare programmers or
copywriters may need totally private space, but HR executives
might spend most of their time in an open area and need access to
private rooms only for interviewing. Customer service departments may work better in totally open areas, where it will be easier
for employees to help one another answer customer queries.
"It's an alignment between space and a team's mission,,, says
Janis R. Evink, a research specialisr in the Ideation Group at
Haworth Inc., an office furniture manufacturer in Holland, Mich.
Organizations that want to stick with cubicles should consider
some options. Stagger the cubicles, rather than line them up in
groups of sk or eight, suggests Wheeler. "If I can see them, they
can hea.r me," Wheeler says. "You should start breaking the 1ine of
sight and encouraging people to talk into the (cubicle) corners, not
the hall."
Nrwvrews oN DFsrt;N
The dominant feature of new office environments is the central
street or boulevard that cuts through a variety of departments and
GARY QUES.\DA/HEDRICH BLESSINC
MlrcH 1998 HRM'rc,rzrNr.
71
s human resources profesr
qrtio.]$,$:;qffi+#ffi
must be used to reach coffee and vending machines or cafeterias.
These corridors provide a place
for spontaneous interaction
amons employees. Often these corridors are wider than other
halls and lead to a work or team area with tables, wall rails for cot
fee cups, and whiteboards for writing or drawing.
By providing this space, companies encourage "informal lear-ning and networking" that can result in new ways to improve performance, says Arlyn Vogelmann, a strategic planner in the
Boston office of Gensler Architecture Design & Planning
Worldwide. "Companies need to be really creative about how peo
ple interact and support creativity within the workplace. Ideas and
intellectual capital are the name of the game"'
The shift in design mirrors changing perceptions about the
best way to develop products or selices, as gatherings by a coffee
machine are no longer presumed to be focused on the latest
episode of Seinfeld.
"In the past, standing at the water cooler
was frowned upon as
gossiping-now it's encouraged," Wheeler says. "That's where new
ideas happen."
A
72 HRM,q.GAZtNe M-rtc;n
1998
survey released this January by the Center for Workforce
Development in Newton, Mass., supports Wheeler's views. For
the employees of the seven companies examined, informal learn-
ing "served to fuIfilI most learning needs, perhaps as much as 70
percenL" according to Monika Aring, co-director of the research
project. The study toncluded that employers thar encourage
z
o
F
o
o
ts
9
I
1
o
interaction between workers of differ-
3
ent skill levels-can help employees acquire criticaljob skills more
o
g
informal learning-such
as
E
quickly and easily.
One of the companies in the study, Siemens Power
Transmission and Distribution in Raleigh, N.C., learned that
employees were using the lunchroom to cary on informal discus-
sions about workplace problems. The company encouraged fur-
ther communication by installing flip charts and overhead
projectors in the area.
Such casual meetings may be the best chance for employees
from other departments to meet informally. AsJakubowski points
out, "Knowledge creation is not a scheduled event."
Snaoorrmvc rr{E
TRANSTTToN
At Hewlett-Packard's San Diego site, the HR department now
serves as the liaison among the designers, site seruice staJf and
employees. HR serves to ensure that an office redesign "works for
the company and for the employees,"
Janet Di Prinzio, HR
"We
services manager at the San Diego site.
are used to dealing
with people. We can say 'This is an issue,' and really look at what
says
the root cause is. We know the customer."
For example, when Hewlett-Packard began planning a new
building at the site about two years ago, Di Prinzio facilitated a
series of employee meetings to discuss the new design, proposed
work space areas, furliture and how employees would work best
in the new area. Their ideas, which helped employees develop a
sense
of ownership, were shared with the company management
and the design team.
ResoMng problems and calming fears may be the primary roles
for HR professionals. Often, the change-management
process
begins with convincing skeptical workers that giving up their pri-
vate ofiices-a status synbol of success and achievement*will be
good for them and the company.
"By bringing HR into the discussion, we find ways of looking at
space differently," says Wheeler. "They bring a more humanistic
approach to it. They have a different point of view of what makes
people happy or satisfied."
Once the HR staff meets with employees to identifi imporrant
issues, designers have a better understanding of what they will
need to provide to replace the status of an office, such as better
computers or other technology, or more team space. "It's a tradeoff," \4rheeler says. "There has to be an identifiable give-and-take. If
employees are willing to try something new, we make sure we pro-
vide other things that reward them in other areas, so they want to
do this, as opposed to being forced to do this."
+
M.qr.cH 1998 HRMecezrNr.
73
That sensitivity to employee concerns played a critical role in
1996 when Owens Coming moved 1,200 employees from its 2&
story tower in Toledo to a new, three-story building down the
street. The move served as the impetus for the company to flatten
itsorganizationa1Structure,Createanewworkcultureand
improve customer service. The new building uses the boulelard
concept by allotting its atrium as team sPace.
Making sure the changeover was successful fell to the HR
department, which developed the change-management strategy,
organized teams to incliide members of each department, surveyed employees, and helped address and ease their concerns
while the new building was under construction.
"There became an increasing awareness of the physical structure of a building and how it can modifr the way people interact,"
says D.gr,Levitq Ph,Dt an Owens Corning organizational develop
ment consultant, who was then a workplace specialist charged
with leading the change-management efforts at the time. "The
whole new world of work is really based on knowledge and the
speed with which we can share knowledge."
Beginning in February 1996, Owens Coming developed committees around five integral parts of the new culture: improving
customer focus; creating ad hoc teams across department boundaries; learning and sharing best practices; eliminating paper in
favor of digital fiIes; and embracing technology that allows
employees to communicate infortnation throughout the company.
The transition team worked from April through September
1996, and each of the nine business unis provided a team member for the five
74 HRMAGAzTNE MARCH 1998
committees.
*
"We wanted to help employees make a cultural transformation
to a new way of working before they moved in, so that when they
moved, they'd say 'This is great,"' Levitt says. "(HR) understood
the vision and rationale and we could help the company drive the
change."
The transition team also helped address the fears expressed by
about a third of the employees, who thought the new building was
too small for all of them and that the company would have to con-
duct a m{or downsizing. The new building "held more people,"
says Levitt. "It wasjust the way it was laid out."
Th,anrrnrTc ErvrpI-oaaEEs
ro
*
usE NEw spACEs
HR's design-related duties don't end when a redesign or move is
completed. HR will need to train employees on the ways to work in
the new environment and help employees establish new rules or
protocols for the workplace.
"You can't take people and pull them out of the environment
they are in now and drop them in without any explanation or proto-
cols," says Eric LeMay, corporate communications director of
Mencs 1998 HRMacazrNs
75
!F
Callison Architecture in Seattle. "It won't work. A lot of companies
U
say 'We tried the open ofiice and it didn't work.' It probably didn t
work because they didn't set up rules and protocols about how
z
employees should use that space, compared to the old space."
!
o
f,
O
HR issues arise even in companies that preach the open environment creed.
"I've had to coach people about how to address people,
as things
as
like loud voices and how to deal with internrptions,"
well
says
Callison's HR Director, Kattrleen Maurel.
Resolving issues about noise and privacy are the two major
complaints about open environments. At Hewlett-Packard's San
Diego facility, placing the finance department in an open environ-
ment appeared to be a solid idea, but some staff recently complained about a lack of privary, Di Prinzio
says.
"They always had food out, they were always having grouP conversations, there was a lot of activity," she says. "The downside was
they didn't feel they had any privacy."
While overall square footage in the San Diego site, which is in its
full year of experimenting with design, remained the same,
suraeys indicate that employees in the pilot progmms are more satsecond
76 HRMAGAZTNT M.lncs
1998
f
7h." James E. Hackert, president and CEO of
V V Steetc^e Inc., is inspired by an idea, he no longer has
A
to w"alk down a long hallway and bang on doors to share it.
Instead, he can get some fast feedback by turning his chair
toward Robert Ballard, the executive vice president of busi
or any of the other top 25 Steelcase execu-
ness operations,
tives sitting nearby in the open area.
For the past two years, Steelcase-a leading office fumiture manufacturer-put its own design
theories to the test by knocking down the walls of its executive suites in is Grand Rapids, Mich,,
headquarters. Now executives and their assistants are grouped in business "neighborhoods"
based onjob firnction and responsibility. They use either cubicles
or personal harbors-the portable, telephone booth-like pri-
vate offices the firm manufactures, says Dan Wiljanen,
Steelcase's HR director.
The area also contains tearn space and a communications
center with screens, overhead projectors, computer ports and
electrical outlets.
While the evidence is anecdotal, so far, the experiment
seems to be working.
"The number of activities we engage in as a leadership team
increased because of the proximity," Wrfianen says. "With an
increasing number of interactions, people become much more fumiliar with one another and
it
Promotes a more positive work relationship. We've gotten to know our colleagrres a lot better
over the last couple of years, and that facittates problem solving."
steelcase cut down on formal meetings by leaving one hour-between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.--open
for informal discussions. Impromptu meetings conducted throughout the day are shorter and
lead to faster decisions than before the move, says Wiljanen. Steelcase is awaiting the resuls of a
study of the move being conducted by Cornell University.
In planning the move, the HR department worked with the facilities department and designers to ensure that the executives understood what would take place and how it would affect each
individual. HR also acted to address potential problems.
The executives spent about six months in a temporary space and were divided into three
teams to develop behavior protocols, to determine their technical requirements and to examine
different furniture choices. The company also built a firll-scale, plywood mock-up to give the executives a better idea of the new, open layout.
More and more companies are using mock-ups to allow employees to test the design and identi$ problems in adlance.
role in a more expensive mock-up developed by Callison Architecture
in Seattle and several other partners. Rather than describing how a new office should look,
Callison built a 5,000-square-foot office, known as "Future @ Work,,, which contains office
Steelcase also played a
desrgns for 2007, says Eric
kMay,
Qallison's corporate communications director, and former
exhibit managerwith Future @ Work.
As ofJanuary, about 1,700 corpoftlte executives, HR professionals and facilities managers
have toured the odribit, which contains a wide array of futuristic furniture, electronic devices and
screens in open sPace to illustrate how the firm believes offices will be designed. The mock work
h"b fR professionals grasp the breadth of a project, coordinate employee
input into the design process, and facilitate meetings with management and design teams.
The site, which cost more than $3 million to build, opened inJune and was developed with
companies including AT&T Wteless Services, SeaFirst Bank and Barclay Dean Interiors.
stations and exhibits
Mancs 1998 HRMacezrNr,
77
isfied with their work areas, have more flexibility in their work
processes and have been able to do more teaming,Jakubowski says.
The HR staff has helped the site serices group conduct its
to "categG
needs-assessment progmms and face-toface interviews
rize and quantify" the needs of each business unit,
says
Jakubowski. Flexibility and mobility were identified as two critical
employee needs.
To provide flexibility, virtually all the furniture components
can be made mobile: Corner stations that hold computers are
on rollers; special wiring allows employees to use their computers and telephones anywhere in the facility, rather than being
tied to a specific work station; file cabinets are on rollers; whole
bookshelves can be removed; and work station walls are not
attached to central cubicle spines, so work areas can be reconfig-
ured quickly. Employees who need privacy can use portable,
enclosed work areas.
"We have been searching to find different ways to prepare for
the future and notjust sit there and wait for change to happen,"
Jakubowski says. "We need to stay awake in terms of getting out in
front and attending to intemal customer needs." lt
Domi,nic Benciumgao a Naa York-based u,riter who has bem coaering
HR isxus for snm years, has bem contributing to HPJ|'lagazine for
three years.
78 HRMAGAzTNE MARCH 1998