I don’t know how many times I’ve walked into an office and gasped at how unimaginative or inappropriate offices in general are. I am here thinking of obsolete furnishings, cramped spaces, poorly designed layouts and a host of other “uncool” features.

To my mind, the purpose of an office, or a “workspace” as management consultants like to refer to it nowadays, is to centralise the work of office employees but also (and equally important) to create an atmosphere and em­ployee experience that encourages employee engagement, creativity, team work and cross functional thinking and behavior.

Companies tend to spend decent money on their website and social media pages, a fleet of company cars, corporate events, advertising, etc, but all too often they opt to have mediocre (if not poor) offices.

I think employees deserve better, especially when they spend the bulk of their wake-up time at work; they deserve a work space that is inviting and stimulating; they deserve a work space that gets the best out of them; they deserve a work space that enhances and facilitates their work.

Top management or business owners (a.k.a. the decision makers) need to appreciate and understand that an appropriate office is fundamental to having a highly motivated workforce. You get the look and feel right – bearing in mind that each and every business has its own unique needs – and you are on to a winner since the office (the physical space where work gets done) is a huge part of the job itself. Hence, if you don’t invest in your office environment, layout and function you are probably not maximising your human capital potential.

An office needs to have specific areas where employees can work quietly and without distraction, where employees can have cross-departmental meetings, where employees can meet clients, where employees can be creative, where employees can deliver presentations, where employees can on occasion relax, where employees can work in teams. Obviously, it depends on the nature and size of your business as to how much space is allocated to the various functions I’ve just described but in principle all offices need to be multi-purpose.

The office is a huge part of the job itself

I am aware that the current fad in Malta is “hot desking”, which to be fair is a natural reaction to the horrible past fad of working in cubicles but beware: hot desking isn’t the total and only solution. By hot desking I mean a “…free-range approach, in which employees (and their laptops) shuffle between open tables, couches, and stations [which supposedly] encourages greater collaboration and innovation among co-workers”. I would say that hot desking is necessary as a feature of the modern office and you’d be wise to incorporate some of it into your total office solution; it just shouldn’t be the be all and end all. A modern office needs to also cater for behaviors and work patterns that are sometimes the antithesis of hot desking.

In addition, I believe, an office also needs to celebrate past company successes, inspire a desirable future and most important perhaps somehow manage to be personal. I, therefore, think that employees need to see images (via photos or wallpaper) and perhaps even read quotes (painted on walls or framed on walls) that remind them why they work for this company and which motivate them to do better and achieve more.

If you can achieve all this, which is not easy by any means, I think you stand a good chance of getting the best out of your employees.

I personally work from many different locations (the official office, the quasi-office, home, at clients, in cafes and bars, in public places, etc) and they are all essential at different times of my working life.

The office, therefore, needs to stimulate the right culture, the right modus operandi and probe the right emotions. You can do this by seeking the advice of qualified/ experienced designers and architects, by emulating best practice abroad and by consulting your own people. It might also pay you to consult business specialists who will advise on how best to organise your office structure since the type, frequency and purpose of business meetings as well as the manner of how people actually work does directly influence the office layout, design and furnishings best suited and not to mention the technology and gadgets used.

So yes we all deserve a cool office for the benefit of our shareholders, employees and customers.

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