This week, sustainability and high-performance building services provider
Stok
published a new report to guide real estate and workplace professionals and
business leaders in enhancing the employee experience and optimizing the value
of office real estate.
Building on Stok’s 2018 report, The Financial Case for High-Performance Buildings
— which demonstrated the correlation between high-performance spaces and the
productivity, retention and wellbeing of people within the space, resulting in
significant financial gains for an organization — High-Performance Buildings and the Evolution of the Workplace: Insights for a People-First Approach
utilizes findings from a perception survey of industry leaders to offer clarity
on where to focus investments to most positively impact employee productivity,
retention and wellbeing in this next era of the workplace.
“Today, the purpose of office real estate and how it functions is being
redefined. As workplaces – and even work itself – are reimagined, professionals
are challenged with where to focus efforts to improve employee experience in
this next evolution of work,” said Jacob
Arlein, CEO of Stok — a
certified B Corp and an ILFI Just
organization.
“This report helps demystify the noise around these decisions, creating
confidence in making investments that will most positively impact your
organization’s bottom line.”
To demystify some of the noise around the next era of the workplace
experience
and the role of the built environment, Stok reached out to a select group of
industry professionals spanning roles in corporate real estate, human resources,
facilities, strategic consulting and design to gather insights and feedback on
evolving aspects of the workplace experience and their perceived effect on three
key occupant impact areas: employee productivity, retention and wellbeing. The
survey results highlighted five aspects of the employee experience that
respondents indicated have the most positive impact on these three key occupant
impact areas:
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The paper provides clarity around investments that should be made in the
existing physical workplace; and — perhaps more importantly, in this changing
paradigm of work — which investments will drive the largest positive impact on
employee productivity, retention and wellbeing.
Extracting findings from a perception survey of industry leaders, the report
shares the top five changes that respondents indicated will have the greatest
impact on the key areas of employee productivity, retention and wellbeing. The
five areas for suggested investments in the employee experience cover workplace
design, operations and policies; and the report provides details on what these
changes might look like for an organization.
Take, for example, access to light and connection to nature in physical office
spaces:
Studies
have proven that the availability of and access to daylight can positively
impact health and performance outcomes of building occupants. In addition to
natural light, office
windows may also
offer views of natural elements (trees, foliage, plants), which has also been
proven to minimize the negative impacts of job stress and support overall
wellbeing. Designing around access to daylight and connections to nature are
also foundational aspects for building rating systems such as LEED, WELL
Building
Standard,
Living Building Challenge and
Fitwel. While providing all building occupants with
majestic views and natural vistas is not feasible in many existing structures,
biophilic design
elements
can have a similar positive impact and can be incorporated using plants,
imagery, natural
materials
and other elements that bring the outdoors in.
“It’s critical that leaders of organizations take a people-centric approach to
workplace strategy as we continue to navigate this next era of the workplace,”
said Emily Dunn,
Director of Workplace Strategy and Wellbeing at Stok, and lead author of the
report. “Employees are, in fact, consumers — exerting a significant amount of
influence over how an organization operates. We know that employees want
flexibility and support around where and when they work; and organizations that
prioritize this will best be able to attract and retain top talent, contributing
to overall success.”
Results of the survey clearly bring the themes of flexibility and wellbeing to
the forefront in prioritizing changes to the workplace. From flexibility in
hours and hybrid work policies to design decisions that promote wellbeing, the
report outlines how each of the five highest-impact changes can be applied
uniquely and effectively to an organization's workplace strategy.
“Where do employees work best? What type of work is best supported where? Where
do employees feel their best? What lessons can we learn that enable us to
reimagine a workplace that allows employees to thrive and perform at their
best?” Dr. Angela Loder,
VP of Research at the International WELL Building Institute, says in the
report. “Understanding these internal and external drivers, such as ESG
reporting pressures and equity drivers, will help organizations be better
prepared to attract and retain key talent and support the mission guiding the
organization.”
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Feb 8, 2023 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET