Study reveals what city-based employees really think about their places of work. By

LL the signs are that working in a modern office environment could be noisy, smelly, dirty and bad for your health, according to new research by Savills and industry body, the British Council for Offices (BCO).

The study, What Workers Want 2016, asked 45 questions of 1100 workers, 300 of them in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and produced a shocking indictment of what constitutes the daily grind for many of us.

Half of all employees are not happy with cleanliness of their working environment, identified as important by 86% of staff in Glasgow, and something you think would be an “easy win”, if occupiers and landlords took time to address it.

Only 45% were satisfied with noise levels in their office. This topped local workers’ dissatisfaction rating. While 73% backed the need for a quiet space for focused work, but only 25% were happy with what was currently available to them, leading to what researchers termed a ‘frustration factor’ of -48%.

Entertainingly, Savills measured tolerance of noise in relation to the number of children people had, achieving 75% satisfaction levels among those with three or more kids who are obviously more used to it.

Temperature, lighting, and smell in the workplace has become much more important since a similar study three years ago. “Some people say who cares what an office smells like?” said Steve Lang, Savills director of research and author of the report. “But go to a hotel, a shopping centre, or market and they will all have a particular smell associated with them.”

A 30% minority believe their office negatively impacts on their physical health and 28% their mental health, which are still big numbers of people and worrying for employers too. In response to claims workers should spend up to four hours a day on their feet, some big corporate firms have introduced ‘standing desks’, but the survey suggests only 20% of male workers would choose one.

Other gripes in Glasgow include wi-fi not being good enough, which incurs a satisfaction gap of -44%, having access to a number of toilets (-38%) and internal design and layout (-36%). But good public transport facilities help the city score well in areas like the daily commute, a bugbear in cities such as London.

Having your own desk was preferred by 60% of people, with 30% comfortable operating remotely, but the working from coffee shops culture got limited support.

Creative firms like MadeBrave, along with Scottish ‘unicorns’ Fanduel and Skyscanner, have invested in an internal fit-out to suit their young workforce.

With the city centre still king, particularly among younger staff keen on retail and leisure, business parks got a big thumbs down. Considering the part they play across the UK, and the steps they have taken to improve amenities, only 6% opted for them as a first choice location.

Locally, we have seen places like Maxim office park at Eurocentral struggle to attract occupiers. “There is a perception issue and clearly participants in this survey would not put a business park as the location they want to be in,” said Lang. “The industry has got to go out and make the case that they can be successful and a good working location.”

Lang told the report’s Scottish launch: “The frustration levels reported show that if organisations don’t get the basic office design and infrastructure right, it can be a major drain on productivity and risk alienating the workforce.”

David Cobban, business space director at Savills in Glasgow, said: “This survey successfully outlines what workers really want from their workplace and highlights the importance of thoughtful office design. We are working with a number of occupiers who are moving away from the notion that ‘one size fits all’ in terms of their fit out, and this mirrors the results of the survey.”

Bill Ritchie, chairman of the Scottish chapter of the BCO said: “This important research allows both office developers and employers to understand what employees actually need, which could in turn significantly help with attracting and retaining staff. If current design and layouts are not working, businesses need to rethink them.”

Half those surveyed over the age of 25 were uncomfortable with idea of employers monitoring performance in the workplace through using ‘wearable technologies’. The increasing capability of people to measure their daily activity is reflected in sales of these devices expected to rise to 125 million this year.

Gillian Stewart, director with Michael Laird Architects, told the Glasgow audience this had clearly gone too far in one Rotterdam company which BCO delegates visited: “The wearables thing is incredibly interesting but scary. In one case it was telling the staff member where to sit, based on their diary, which it knew because it was connected to their phone. It was all about managing the amount of energy used, so, if you had a meeting on level 7, that is where you sat for the day to save using the lift.”

The big question of course is how much attention employers will pay to the picture being painted. After the Brexit vote, developers and investors may feel they have other issues on their agenda, but companies with a longer term perspective may prick up their ears.