Say bye bye to the corner office. Say hello to the shrinking cubicle.
That’s what folks at the D.C. office of an architectural firm told me as I reported on workplace wellness. I was trying to find examples of wellness ideas that had a clear impact on the culture of health in a company for a centerpiece story that will run this Friday.
These days, the trend is more natural light, less personal space.
“Fundamentally, the design is to encourage mental health, well-being and work-life balance,” said Jason Wilcoxon, associate principal at Ayers Saint Gross. “For years, people fought for that corner office but that’s not very egalitarian.” Ayers Saint Gross has specialized for years in designing healthy spaces, most recently George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health where, for instance, the firm designed a staircase meant to attract people to walk up to upper floors rather than ride the elevator.
As my colleague at the Orlando Business Journal recently reported, the Orlando CBRE office implemented a new concept when it relocated where no one had assigned desks, there were fewer enclosed offices for mid- and upper-level management, and there were more collaborative spaces.
The idea is nothing new. In the early 2000s, Louis Goetz of Group Goetz Architects in D.C. told Bloomberg Businessweek more companies were creating informal spaces for collaboration by cutting into formal individual work areas.
But the idea has been slow to catch on for many employers. To sell clients on their concepts, Ayers Saint Gross had to try them in their own office first, including smaller work spaces. “Our biggest concern going in is ‘Will people accept that?’” said Bill Skelsey, principal at the firm. “But people enjoy getting out of their chair and going to the shared space.”
That was the experience at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. The organization decided to move out of its outdated D.C. office earlier this year, telling a real estate broker it wanted to save money and have better Internet connections — and it wanted the new space to come with employee wellness features. Hey, it’s a buyers’ market, right?
“At the end of the day, we’re only as good as our employees. We want employees who are happy, healthy and don’t want to run across the street to work for someone else because they like it here,” said CHPA President and CEO Scott Melville said.
CHPA picked a building with a green roof and a gym. Offices were pulled off the window line so there was more natural light for everyone. The walls were painted bright colors and more common areas were created.
“I can’t quantify it. But from day one, we had improved morale and we increased productivity,” Melville said. “I think people felt appreciated that we cared about the their health.”
