Radically reworking the work day
Deloitte and CBRE’s updated Toronto offices drive innovation while maximizing productivity
Employers are investing heavily in collaborative workplaces because that kind of environment helps attract and retain younger workers.
But, ultimately, it’s not about age, it’s about productivity, say officials at two Toronto companies that have made over their headquarters to drive their business strategies.
Both commercial real estate giant CBRE and professional services firm Deloitte say the new head offices they opened downtown this year are designed to break down barriers by providing gathering spaces and amenities that maximize opportunities for innovation and the wellness of their human resources.
Younger workers expect to have choices in every aspect of their lives, including work, said Lisa FulfordRoy, CBRE’s managing director of workplace strategy.
It’s part of their unprecedented attention to their own health and wellbeing, she said.
“Money isn’t their number one priority. It’s the experience, it’s feeling valued, it’s the job opportunity. If they don’t feel like they can trust their employer how are they going to actually achieve their personal goals,” said Fulford-Roy.
“How do we then improve the employee experience and still meet the business objectives in the way we design the space and support people in doing that,” she said.
CBRE’s investment in a building program that addresses the air quality, light and noise factors that affect performance benefits 100 per cent of its employees and its visitors, rather than the 15-per-cent take-up in the typical corporate wellness options such as gym memberships, said Fulford-Roy.
Questions about demographics are among the most common fielded by Deloitte officials since it opened its new head office at Yonge and Adelaide streets, said regional managing partner Ryan Brain.
“You will see partners who have been here for a long time, who actually had an easier, more effective adjustment than many others. We can’t just paint with a broad brush and suggest that either the challenge or the opportunity is aimed at single demographics. It’s far from that simple,” he said.
Deloitte’s Montreal office is proof, however, that the company’s approach is appealing to young workers. Of 60 summer employment offers, 58 were accepted two years in a row, Brain said. “We’ve never had anything like that,” he said. “It’s not about ‘one size fits all’ for any generation. It’s about having the choice. So depending on how individuals work, the type of work they do, their preferences — we have an ability to find something that works,” said Kerri Cartwright, director of talent for Deloitte.
Deloitte’s radical move away from personal space to a less hierarchical environment will evolve further, Brain said.
“We don’t want to just make sure we get it right for this generation. We want to make sure that we get it right for future generations.”
CBRE fits wellness into work What if the air in your office was fresher than the atmosphere at home? What if everyone at work was within eight metres of a window? What if the files and paper on your desk disappeared every night and the sound of your desk-mate’s nagging cough barely registered? Welcome to the workplace of the future. If you’re one of about 200 employees at the new Toronto headquarters of CBRE on King St. near University Ave., it’s already arrived.
CBRE is pursuing a relatively new designation known as WELL. In the same way a LEED building has to incorporate strict environmental standards, WELL buildings must perform on seven wellness fronts: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind, according to the WELL Building Institute website.
“It was an element of transformation that really represented our values as an organization, one that would actually demonstrate our commitment to people and demonstrate the value of reinvesting in people,” said Lisa Fulford-Roy, managing director, workplace strategy.
The entire 1.5-storey headquarters has been designed to maximize employee collaboration, technological connectivity and personal health and well-being.
Seating, corridors and even a centre staircase off reception that connects the 11th- and 12th-floor spaces encourage what Fulford-Roy calls “casual collisions” between CBRE employees and clients. But those conveniences are paired with the premise that moving around at work is a good thing.
Everybody at CBRE gets a personal sit-stand desk that is easily lowered or raised, along with a single filing drawer and a pencil drawer, but employees also get a laptop, a headset for their phone and a dual screen to encourage them to move around the space.
“The more we’re moving around, the more we’re energizing ourselves throughout the day,” said FulfordRoy. “It is much better for us to change position every 20 or 30 minutes for ergonomic relief,” she added.
With an increased reliance on digitized storage, the office is virtually paperless. That’s estimated to save the company about $55,000 over the 10-year lease on the space. Along with the company’s clean-desk policy, it also means all areas are “client ready.”
“It actually reduces bacteria, dust and dirt at the desk because you don’t have clutter and collection,” said Fulford-Roy.
The reception area is all hard surfaces and minimal adornment. A glass-walled conference room near the entrance that can be turned opaque at the touch of a button, signals CBRE as an active, working space.
Beyond reception, leading to a main workspace — an area that would once have been considered back of house, but that distinction no longer really exists — there is a bank of windows lined with bench seating and cafe tables.
It’s an opportunity for casual encounters between staff, clients and company leaders, where clients can meet with employees or simply sit down and do some work.
The offices have been designed to allow CBRE clients “hoteling” privileges.
If they’re downtown for the day, they’re invited to set up a laptop and take the space they need to conduct business between meetings.
There are only 12 executive offices in the space, but those incorporate meeting spaces that can be used by anyone on the frequent occasions when the bosses are out of town.
It encourages “a mix of informal and open conversation, which allows for natural mentoring, which allows for leaders to be seen in action and it allows for those casual encounters between staff,” she said.
Some of the most notable differences are invisible.
WELL requires an increased level of particulate filtration in the duct system that “gives us some of the cleanest air in North America,” she said.
In areas with 25 people or more in 500 sq. ft., sensors trigger CO2 levels and the fresh air intake that CBRE had separately installed in its space within the LEED building.
There is a noticeable difference in the noise absorption that is achieved through white noise, sound baffles on the ceilings, higher quality walls for meeting areas and “phone booths” that provide a quiet, private sanctuary for long, personal or confidential calls behind heavyweight sliding glass doors.
“Noise is one of the biggest stress factors in the workplace and one of the biggest detractors,” said FulfordRoy.
But many companies “value engineer” (i.e. reduce costs) by reducing noise mitigation.
Although everyone gets a view out of the window, the light fixtures include a sensor that adjusts light levels to the amount of daylight, reducing screen glare and minimizing eye strain.
Light factors into mental alertness, memory function and healing.
“That’s really good for your circadian rhythm to have that natural balance. While your naked eye can’t see that, your body actually reads it. It prepares you for better quality of sleep at night,” she said.
“Nobody’s yawning in the afternoon, nobody’s yawning in meeting rooms.”
Deloitte makes space for collaborative work It can be difficult for visitors to distinguish the public space outside on a busy downtown corner from the private corporate world within the new headquarters of Deloitte at Yonge and Adelaide streets.
That’s entirely by design. Connectedness is a key principle of the company’s office transformation. The city is just one of those connections.
Everything about the new head office — from the soaring atrium and centre Deloitte corporate green staircase to the furniture and technology — is part of its pursuit of collaboration and innovation as it sheds more hierarchical traditions in favour of 21st-century values.
None of the approximately 4,500 staff who have spent nearly a year in a phased move from seven regional offices, including the top executives, has their own desk, but everyone has access to as much meeting space or privacy as their work requires.
Departments still exist, but there’s no imperative for teams to locate near one another unless their work requires it.
“The premise revolves around what looks like file cabinets but are actually personal storage drawers,” Cartwright explained.
“They’re digitally locked but we’ve tried to group them logically. (An employee) may have their starting point here but they’re going to put their laptop, their reference material or their favourite shoes in their drawer and then they can hang their coat.”
After that, she said, they can go work anywhere they choose. It could be the 7th floor one day, the 4th the next.
The office functions more as a conference centre for staff and clients. It’s part of a business trend to breaking down literal and metaphorical walls but regional managing partner Ryan Brain admits Deloitte is pushing the envelope.
“You don’t see a lot of 150-year-old firms take it as far as we have. It’s unorthodox but we’re proud we have taken it this far,” he said.
The reception area is actually at the top of the escalator running off the lobby. It is furnished with egg chairs and tree-trunk coffee tables that invite lingering rather waiting.
Southeast of reception there is a striking, almost sculptural white seating installation called “the gallery.”
It’s a kind of tented conference area that offers privacy within and an open working counter in one unit. It enables brief meetings between staff and clients when the formality of a conference room isn’t required.
“It’s a connection point and, because of where it is on the corner of Yonge and Adelaide (streets), we wanted to design a piece that is visually appealing, looks a little different and is basically a conversation piece,” Cartwright said.
There are only two printing stations. Dual monitors on many of the desktop computers promote Deloitte’s paper-light policy that requires each employee to key in a PIN number to generate paper, which then triggers an individual monthly email that tracks their consumption.
Deloitte’s innovation centre, called the Green House, is a lab setting for clients in search of solutions to their most pressing challenges. One of the few areas that isn’t transparent to the atrium, it resembles an apartment more than an office with a counter in the entrance and podium mounted technological tools including a drone.
It is booked daily and sometimes weeks or months in advance.
The company’s D411, a one-stop shop for corporate services such as IT support, also sells goods such as golf shirts, umbrellas or even a Tide To Go pen.
“It has a bit of an Apple vibe to it. When you’re in an environment where you don’t have dedicated desks you have to think about operational support,” Cartwright said.
But it’s at Deloitte’s Recharge wellness centre where, she said, the philosophy of inclusiveness comes together.
“We will have partners to junior analysts in the same room. The spin bike doesn’t care how much money you make,” Cartwright said.
It features about 24 classes a week from spinning to yoga and boot camps, and inner wellbeing gets equal space with prayer and reflection rooms and a window-facing meditation zone.
There’s no denying the attraction of the business approach and the amenities designed to support it. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a huge adjustment for Deloitte staff.
Cartwright said she was surprised at how much of an adjustment the elevator system was.
Instead of getting in and picking your floor, the Deloitte office requires employees to scan their card to determine which floors they are allowed to access and then select their destination.
There was apprehension about how people would find one another among the 2,000-plus people who would be in the office at any given time, said Brain.
That hasn’t materialized. People just text one another or use a messaging function on Skype.
“Some preferred the routine of the personalization of their space,” Brain said.
“Space isn’t personalized now. It’s more of a community feel.”
Everything about the new Deloitte office is part of its pursuit of innovation as it sheds more hierarchical work traditions