Office employees can spend a vast majority of their time inside the physical office space, where layout, environment and personal workspace can directly influence their performance, productivity and even attitude towards work.
Our research has suggested that if workplace culture drives creative performance and motivation, and technology boosts output, the physical workspace still plays an integral part in bridging the gap between creative performance and productivity.
Office layout, environment and processes have been front of businesses minds for the past few years, with open-plan offices, flexible working, hot-desking and collaborative spaces becoming more and more popular amongst organisations. But organisations do recognise the importance of investing in the workspace.
The study shows that even small improvements to the office environment have had tangible results with only 65% of executives saying they had invested in the office environment in the last two years, but 79% of employees said their office had become better, proving that further investment could give an even bigger boost to employees. (Figure 5)
However, there is still some disparity between employees and employers so, to ensure that the optimal office remains intact, businesses may need to reassess.
Figure 5: Investment in Office Environment. Responses from executives that have already invested, the result, and those that will invest in the next two years:
65% have invested in the last two years
74% pleased with the positive return of their investment
82% planning on investing in the next two years
In general, employees value a fixed office that is close to transport links and has sufficient structure and processes in place. The majority of workers (89%) said office environment (such as light, temperature, and noise) could make the biggest improvement to productivity in the workplace, followed by their workstation (85%).
This was in contrast to executives, only 64% of which agreed that employee workstation could significantly improve productivity, suggesting that employers may be underestimating the importance of employee workstations and the impact on a person’s productivity. There were other results in the study that revealed some key differences according to industry, company size, or age group. For example, executives cited being close to customers and business partners as a key driver for performance (90%), which was higher than employees.
This was also true for employees in the financial services industry, who ranked this higher than other sectors. Planned spending on office improvements vary between the different industries asked but companies are investing in office modernisation across the board.
8% of employers said they will spend more than 10% of operating costs on office space, more than a third (36%) committed to between 5% and 10%, and 40% will spend between 2% and 5%, making it clear that modernisation is a priority for a lot of organisations.
Figure 6 shows how this is split between the sectors involved in the survey, including the financial, healthcare, education, public, and business and professional services industries.
When looking at the results from Irish respondents, it is clear that executives in Ireland are committed to spending the most on office modernisation next year out of all of the regions involved in the study. In fact, 23% of executives in Ireland committed to spending over 10% of operating costs on office modernisation, which is the highest of both regions and industry sectors, and over a third (37%) said they will spend between 5% and 10%.
The majority of Ireland executives in the survey cited the optimal office environment as one of the most important factors in collaboration, productivity and employee retention.
Furthermore, 90% (the highest of all regions asked) said the right office environment helps collaboration with others in the organisation, 67% agreed that the optimal office could improve productivity by 10%, and 23% said it could improve productivity by over 10%.
There is further disparity in the results between some of the age groups involved in the study. For instance, respondents in the 38-52 and 53+ age categories said a physically attractive location would have the biggest effect on productivity.
This was in contrast to younger respondents, who cited good transport links as the most important factor in productivity.
This could be influenced by employee salaries, bearing in mind older employees may occupy more senior roles, and how affordable property is in the area.
Therefore, this may be something to consider for executives when making decisions around how to best equip every type of employee, so they can perform and be productive, regardless of their commute or flexible working situation.
Another interesting comparison was around productivity in different working locations. Whilst all age groups cited a fixed office location as the most productive (Figure 7), employees over the age of 53 currently spend less time there.
Almost a third (32.89%) typically work away from the office, whether it be at other office locations, working from home, or working while travelling.
Older generations are also more likely to want to work in other locations, such as on the move or in other offices, than younger respondents. This may correlate to the seniority of the employee’s job title and therefore having more of a need to travel or work remotely.
Similarly, employees at large companies like working in a fixed office location less than smaller companies, but they seem to be less con dent about how productive they are when they are not working in an office.
On the whole, executives are already investing in workplace improvements, or plan to in the future. And the findings suggest that these investments have already shown the returns that can be made for both employers and employees.
However, the study suggests that there are a number of key differentials to bear in mind when deciding what to invest in. For instance, some may consider investing more in office environment than facilities, which were not considered as valuable to employees.
Overall, we can come to a positive conclusion on the value of the physical workspace and its importance to the optimal office. When executives were asked to estimate the impact of a perfect office environment on the productivity of their organisation, the vast majority (70%) said they would see an increase up to 10%.
Over a fifth (21%) said they would see an increase in productivity over 10%, showing the scale of the impact the workspace can have on overall productivity and, therefore, its ability to unlock a potential GDP boost through developing an optimal office.
For the workplace to thrive, there must be a foundation in a positive company culture, which forms the basis for building a workspace that can contribute to overall productivity.
However, before the UK and Ireland can realise their full potential and unlock economic benefits available, they must also recognise the need to empower and connect the workspace through technology.
