<b>Praveen Rawal:</b> Transformation awaits workspace

The need for progressive workplace is emerging as crucial in growth markets

Today 84 per cent of the world’s population resides in emerging economies like India and China. The opportunities in these markets are limitless, but the challenges are daunting. And while there are many market issues that businesses can’t control or even influence, there are many strategies that companies can deploy to thrive in volatile markets.

With the growing challenges and changing work dynamics, the office environment is evolving as an essential element which influences employee productivity, inspires people to do their best work, and help organisations prosper.

The key challenge is to make employees not just happy but also highly motivated, a challenging task for the traditional set-up in India. Hence, the need for progressive workplace is emerging as a crucial need to address the challenges in growth markets and boost productivity and engagement at workplace. Growth markets can overcome challenges and enhance productivity by integrated three broad approaches.

Enhance well-being in high-density workplaces: High stress levels are endemic to knowledge work. We communicate and collaborate constantly and it’s hard to unplug. To keep employees engaged, it’s vital that the workplace is designed to nurture their physical, cognitive and emotional needs.

As work today is both physically and cognitively demanding, work environments should be created to help people deal with the stress. Hence, adding privacy elements to the space can help humanise the density. Allowing people to customise their workspace with a pinboard for pictures of friends and family can humanise even a crowded space. Additionally, providing options for employees to change postures throughout the day, such as lounging, sitting and standing, is critical for physical and cognitive well-being which in turn helps employees to stay focused. Further, fresh air and natural light are refreshing, and it’s been proven that working outdoors or near natural light improves creativity, productivity and enhances well-being.

Create a palette of place in limited space: Engaged workers are the engine that propel an organisation. Sadly, they are in limited supply in growth markets. According to Steelcase’s study, only 13 per cent of global workers are highly engaged and satisfied with their work environment. In order to increase the engagement levels, a range of spaces that provide employees options for different modes of work can promote employee well-being — and thus improve retention — as well as advance other business goals.

A benching work environment can be designed to support both individual and collaborative work. Further, an extra, open space at the end of a work bench can also provide a natural area for informal conversation or one-on-one collaboration.

Maximum resilience in the face of fast-changing demands: The final critical factor in designing spaces in growth markets is resilience. Rapid growth and shifting work patterns make it imperative that office changes are made quickly and easily without starting from scratch. The key is flexibility or modularity. Modular structures, made from components that can be easily reconfigured, make it easy to change spaces to accommodate evolving business needs. Work surface extensions and privacy screens can be added to support changes in team size or to shift the focus from individual to collaborative work.

Work environments should also be designed to help bring a diverse range of people, resources and tools into close proximity with each other.