The ongoing pandemic has changed fundamental patterns in our lives, accelerating existing trends and revealing new unmet needs. Since the onset of COVID,
Steelcase has conducted ongoing research to help organizations understand its impact on their people and business.
One of nine organizations selected as part of Shaw’s sustain[HUMAN]ability®
Leadership Recognition
Program,
Steelcase is being recognized for its research to
understand the impact the pandemic has had on what people need and expect in the
office, uncovering the macro shifts driving new ways of planning and designing
the workplace.
Mary Ellen Mika, Director of Sustainability for Steelcase, recently shared
new workplace
research
the company has conducted about changing needs and demands of employees given
the impact of the Coronavirus
pandemic.
Steelcase has long had a focus on people and the planet, and consumer health has been a top priority for your customers for some time. What changes did you see in 2020? And how did you respond?
MEM: Consumer health has always been a top priority for Steelcase and core
to our sustainability strategy. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of
this issue; and in 2020, it rose to the top of our materiality assessment
results, reinforcing the emphasis our customers continue to place here.
The rise in home office solutions prompted individual consumers to ask more
questions about our products and how they're designed to protect human health
and the environment. Prior to COVID, these questions were typically only asked
by corporate designers or facilities representatives — not end users. However,
because the answers to these questions are just as important to our largest
corporate customers as to individual residential customers, we've shifted our
communications approach to increase transparency and make sure we're reaching
all audiences with relevant consumer health information.
Driving Internal Organizational Alignment and Better Cross-Functional Collaboration
Join us as leaders from Daggerwing Group, General Mills, J. Lohr Vineyards, Sylvain and Caribou Coffee explore aspects of evolving internal company governance, culture and collaboration that enable stronger connections with consumers across generations and with evolving mindsets — Wed, May 8, at Brand-Led Culture Change.
We've additionally committed to research projects that address consumer concerns
about the spread of
pathogens
and the specific types of surface materials that may mitigate transmission. Our
design teams continue to respond to customer requests to help companies increase
space, provide greater separation between individuals and suggest other measures
to address COVID-related consumer health concerns.
At Steelcase, we keep people at the heart of all we do — and that starts by
protecting human health and promoting wellbeing in the places we work, learn and
heal.
What led to your research and the report, Changing Expectations and the Future of Work?
MEM: The extended duration and reach of the global pandemic has changed
fundamental patterns in our lives, accelerating existing trends and revealing
new unmet needs. Since the onset of the pandemic, Steelcase has conducted
ongoing research to help organizations understand its impact on their people and
business.
As the pandemic stretched on, it became apparent that working from home is not a
one-size-fits-all experience for people, nor is there a single ideal solution
for each organization. There are, however, key themes and patterns that have
emerged from which organizations can learn and develop new workplace strategies
that meet the changing needs and demands of their employees.
Our
report
shares the synthesis of eight primary studies conducted between April and
September 2020, and was designed to measure how the COVID-19 pandemic will
change the future of work. The quantitative and qualitative studies deployed
methodologies based in the social sciences and were conducted in multiple
countries, including over 32,000 cumulative participants.
Steelcase is committed to continuing research to understand what’s next and
share what we’re learning to help make work better.
What were some of the most surprising findings?
MEM: While we anticipated isolation being one of the top challenges —
isolation ranks the highest among participants in all 10 countries as the
leading factor that worsened during mandatory work-from-home orders — we didn’t
expect the lack of a commute to be as high of a benefit as it was. Not commuting
to the office is almost universally the main thing people like about working
from home. Eight out of 10 countries rank the lack of a commute as the top
benefit to working from home.
How do you expect the research and what you learned to impact your business in the coming year as people return to a ‘new normal’ — and what’s here for the long term?
MEM: People’s experiences during the pandemic have caused new and heightened
expectations that organizations will need to understand and address when their
employees return to the workplace. Prior to the pandemic, expectations had
already begun to change, and the crisis has accelerated the need to create
better
workplaces.
The synthesis of Steelcase research identified the macro shifts leaders will
need to embrace to create safe and compelling places where people can be engaged
and productive.
This article is one in a series of articles recognizing the second slate of
organizations to be honored by Shaw’s
sustain[HUMAN]ability®
Leadership Recognition Program. The nine organizations selected for this year’s
recognition program have displayed tremendous effort and progress to support the
wellbeing of people and the planet amid the unprecedented challenges of 2020. To
read more about the other organizations recognized by Shaw, visit the landing
page for this blog
series.
Published Jun 30, 2021 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Vice President of Global Sustainability & Innovation
Shaw Industries
Kellie Ballew is the VP of Global Sustainability for Shaw Industries Group, Inc. — a global provider of sustainable floor coverings and the world’s largest carpet manufacturer. A 25-year company veteran, Kellie has a long history of partnering with Shaw leaders to leverage market insights and technical expertise to inform, influence, and support business decisions.
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Shaw Industries.
This article, produced in cooperation with the Sustainable Brands editorial team, has been paid for by one of our sponsors.