What is the most productive work environment?
During a keynote on the evolution of the workplace at a conference or during a class on user psychology at the university, I often dare to ask the audience the following question: “What is the most productive work environment?” Immediately, murmurs arise in the room, people scratch their heads, begin debating with their neighbours, and generally express that this is not a simple question. There is always someone who raises their hand, followed by a speech about the importance of well-being in the workplace, the ergonomic quality of the setup, the performance of IT tools in the context of hybrid working, the human need for daylight and living plants, the eternal search for privacy and comfort at work, etc.
With a subtle smile, I always show the same image of ragged rowers struggling on a Roman galley. At first, this illustration leads to surprised looks, laughter, and some indignation. However, the galley is an interesting work environment with a very high output. Every worker performs the same task, everyone has the same objective: rowing. At the back, a burly man beats a large drum to set the rhythm and motivate the troops. At the front, a diligent fitness coach with a whip provides the necessary motivation.
Of course, these are dreadful, inhumane working conditions that we can no longer imagine today. Well-being in this work environment is simply non-existent. The business operations are absolutely unsustainable. The only goal of the rowers is to propel the ship, at any cost. Rowers who cannot keep up are mercilessly thrown overboard. The team’s productivity is high but is absolutely not balanced with the well-being of the workers. The galley is a beautiful illustration of how in a modern organization, the search for the right balance between employee well-being and the requested output in the work environment is of great importance.
We often naively assume that there is a direct, linear relationship between well-being and performance. In other words, we offer our employees a new, fun work environment, they all become “happy” and they start working like crazy. Of course, it’s not that simple! Research has shown that this relationship depends on the content given to the concept of “well-being”: is it individual or group well-being? In the case of individual well-being, mediating variables are at play, such as the need for privacy, the reward for good performance, the degree of professionalism, etc. Due to the difficulty of studying this relationship under controlled conditions, there is still insufficient scientific data to make objective statements. So, we need to be cautious with this assumption.
In any case, if we want to leverage the work environment as a tool for our culture and strategy in modern organizations, we need to provide a context in which our employees can give their best in the best possible circumstances. Some interventions, like offering sit-stand furniture, are now an essential component of our strategy and a great illustration of this principle. Our employees change their sitting positions throughout the day. This prevents physical discomfort, provides variation, and optimizes output.
Many organizations, in the aftermath of the COVID crisis, began questioning their office spaces. This is a necessary, healthy, and sustainable reflex. However, assuming that the workplace of the future will only serve as a trendy meeting space might be somewhat shortsighted. Not all users will systematically do their focused work exclusively from home. This might be due to their profile; some profiles, like experts or lawyers, mainly do focused work and thus need a quiet environment at work as well. Personal preferences are also important here. Some people will prefer to come to the office for any professional activity. They need social interaction or want to keep work and home strictly separate. It is not obvious and often not advisable to forbid them this, although some organizations are already opting for a “remote-first” approach and branding themselves this way in the labour market.
Research by Leesman has shown that in the current context, certain activities, such as reading documents and creative thinking, are significantly better performed at home than in the office. If we want to offer our employees an attractive work environment, making them come to the office more often, then balance between focus and interaction in the new workplace is crucial. This means the new office concept must be sufficiently compartmentalized and offer a nice balance between quiet and noisy areas. In the optimal activity-based work environment, users will look for a workspace based on their needs and activities. Research has shown that the quality of the offered infrastructure is essential for the success of this concept. The variety of workspace types offered also makes a significant difference. We need to offer a range of choices, such as meeting rooms, brainstorming spaces, cockpits, quiet rooms, etc. The mix of workspaces provided must optimally align with the user profiles.
Of course, we see that due to increased remote working, many colleagues mainly want to come to work to meet each other, to catch up on projects and clients. The focus is often on informal meetings, and we see that a pleasant, accessible, and well-equipped coffee space is becoming increasingly important. In the future, we will also need much better-equipped hybrid meeting spaces. Smaller meeting rooms with a table optimally placed relative to a large screen with webcam and microphone. Through this screen, teams can quickly and easily organize hybrid meetings with multiple people. Not every meeting, however, needs to take place in a closed, reserved space. It is perfectly possible to organize non-confidential conversations in an open project environment. A zone equipped with attractive “lounge” furniture where users can quickly organize an open conversation. In this zone, we also find tables for working on projects, landing spots for short-term use, whiteboards, and loose seating for creative conversations and brainstorming. It is crucial to maintain a smart balance here between the informal nature of a coworking environment and the formal, reservable meeting infrastructure that we will still need.
The work environment must therefore be of high quality and offer the right types of workspaces to be successful. However, this is not enough. There is also a key balance here, the balance between the quality of the work environment and the behaviour of the users. A beautiful work environment can be completely ruined if the users don’t adapt their behaviour. They start meetings in the open office, casually take calls between workstations, or leave their equipment at flexible workstations because they will sit there again the next day. To achieve successful collaboration in the activity-based work environment, we also need to change the behaviour of the users, and this often doesn’t happen without resistance.
We often hear that people are creatures of habit and do not want, sometimes even cannot, change their behaviour. However, this is a myth. With good guidance through a change process and by providing a context that will naturally support the desired behaviour, we can achieve a lot. An example: Are you planning to loudly discuss your weekend at the local public library? I don’t think so. Let’s offer a quiet space in the new work environment that feels like a library, where employees can enjoy a peaceful atmosphere because everyone is quiet. To work quietly, one does not necessarily need an individual office. A quiet space can be shared with multiple people as long as an agreement is made among users not to conduct phone calls or informal discussions there.
One of the variables that significantly influences the relationship between employee well-being and productivity is the maturity of leadership within the organization. The COVID crisis forced many leaders to experiment with new leadership styles. While in the past, team activities could easily be tracked and controlled due to physical proximity and visibility, managers had to learn how to make teams collaborate remotely. This required developing new roles, such as the coach, the leader, and the entrepreneur. Teams working remotely enjoy significantly greater freedom. Employees organize their days and decide when to take on which tasks. The manager must evolve into a facilitator who guides the team to maximum output based on trust. Here, maintaining a good balance between controlling and coaching is crucial.
Harvard Business Review dedicated an article to the various tensions in the organization caused by hybrid working, which leaders must manage. Employees can choose where to work, but they must always remain reachable. They feel isolated when working from home but are overwhelmed with communication. Employees have the choice to work from home, but this means they miss out on professional opportunities and rewards more often. Leading a team remotely is therefore a constant balancing act.
