Rethinking work spaces
Jobs are not just about the money – people also want conducive environments
ACCEPTING a job offer or staying with a current employer has become about more than the salary offered, as young professionals place increasing importance on the physical environments they work in.
For business or commercial property owners, this can mean a rethink, and possible overhaul, of their traditional office spaces to make them more attractive to current and future employees.
Social spaces in the work space are more important than before, says Natalie Mabaso, an industrial psychologist at Paragon Interiors, a corporate interior design firm in Joburg.
“A move towards co-working environments has drawn attention to the benefit and importance of shared spaces where a network of relationships can be formed,” she says.
“There is a demand for spaces where employees can drop in, have a cup of coffee, bump into colleagues from other departments or teams, and start a conversation about the rugby that might turn into an idea for a project. “Organisations are starting realise more and more that
‘social capital’ has value – maybe even equal to that of financial capital.”
An increased focus on wellness means more organisations are considering facilities that cater for physical and psychological wellbeing such as therapy consultation rooms, in-house beautician services, gyms or group exercise rooms.
But a primary requirement still remains the need for quiet spaces such as focus rooms or library zones, where individuals can move out of the general areas into more private spaces to engage in confidential or intense focus work.
“Walk into any office that provides separate booths or enclosed rooms and you will note that they are almost always occupied.”
Michael Taggart, head of digital solutions at JLL Australia, says meeting rooms have become more important than ever, thanks to the rise of the open-plan office. However, they are seldom used for meetings and have become a place of refuge. A recent study shows that they are routinely occupied by just one person.
“We see it often – rooms that are never booked in the system but are constantly occupied. That’s people making a call, finding space to focus on a task or getting away from a noisy office...
“In a nutshell, workers need a place to retreat.”
Co-working offices are almost synonymous with lounge space: couches, hangout nooks and coffee bars where staff can work on laptops, hold meetings or simply leave their desks for a change of scenery, says Tom Larance, head of experience at JLL.
Many companies wish to create that level of flexibility in their own offices but don’t have room for it. Instead, landlords are stepping in and creating tenant lounges.
As workdays get longer, it becomes important that buildings have places for employees to have fun, too, he says. Some tenant lounges include spaces where employees can let off steam.
Tenant lounges can also be a gateway to another revenue stream – cafeterias.
These offerings are becoming more important as fewer workers bring brown-bag lunches.
Mabaso says the new ergonomics regulations, published by the Minister of Employment and Labour in the Government Gazette in December, hold organisations accountable for providing a workspace that carefully considers the person-machine interface in order to optimise well-being.
“One might assume this is a primary consideration just for industrial environments, where repetitive tasks and loud noises are commonplace, but the regulations apply to all organisations in South Africa, including offices where employees spend the majority of the day seated.”
Ergonomic workstations – desks and chairs – are “critically important” considerations for organisations, as South African legislation catches up with the global understanding that the health and wellbeing of people is directly linked to productivity and, ultimately, the performance of the economy.