Author: jeanyveshuwart

William Hanley is a Vice President at Kontor, a “visual search and discovery platform for workplace design.” Together with Kontor’s director of European business development and architect, Florian Bolle, William will be participating in the premier Social Workplace conference, taking place in London, October 16^th.

Kontor was founded by Kevin Ryan, “a luminary in the New York tech scene”, who also started Business Insider, Gilt, and various other successful companies. Kontor founder and CEO, Mia Lewin is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for design, alongside Andy Parsons, who is also a founder and CTO, who has a strong background in photo and search technologies. The company launched a private beta preview in June, and is preparing for a public launch in November.

We caught up with William and Florian to learn more about the visionary design platform and to find out why design plays such an essential role in the workplace of the future.

Hi William, can you please tell us about Kontor? Please describe the design of the space and how you realized what worked best for your community.

Kontor is a visual search and discovery platform for workplace design. We have built an unprecedented network that connects visionary companies, great architects, and innovative product makers using a combination of beautiful project photography, expert metadata, and a proprietary, design-focused search algorithm.

On Kontor, everyone involved with a workplace project can showcase their contributions, and anyone can discover interesting projects, create collections of images, and share them with each other. Think of it as a platform similar to Pinterest but tailor made for the design world.

Our own main office is a surprisingly spartan loft in Tribeca New York and our European headquarters, where Florian is based, is located in a coworking space in Paris, which is occupied by several other design-focused businesses.

How does Kontor envision the Social Workplace and how does it meet the needs of contemporary work styles?

Thanks to a combination of mobile devices, geographically distributed teams, and the global nature of contemporary work, the office has become less of place for performing tasks within a set window of time and more of a social space that facilitates personal interactions and serendipitous conversations. It sounds cliché, but fostering collaboration has become the workplace’s primary role now that we can all work anywhere.

You can find many examples of how this has shifted the design of the physical workplace on Kontor, but generally we see fewer and fewer partitioned work areas, and certainly fewer private offices, in favor of more flexible spaces and a range of different types of lounge-like spaces—from informal meeting areas to cafés to alcoves and hideaways that facilitate small gatherings.

How are the expectations of the modern workforce different today than they were 5 years ago?

The ability to work anywhere has changed how our professions and the ways that our lives intersect. At its worst, this had led to a lack of work-life balance, as we are now seemingly available at all hours of the day. At its best, it has created a sense of work-life integration that allows us to build a schedule that suits both our personal and professional needs. The key to staying on the positive side of this condition is flexibility and that also extends to office design.

How does Kontor address the needs of employers and employees today?

More than anything, employees expect the workplace to accommodate the ever-blurrier boundaries between their personal and professional lives—whether that means a specific set of amenities, a design aesthetic that fits their sense of professional identity, or a space that speaks to a particular office culture. We are a far cry from soulless rows of cubicles or even a generic open plan.

What types of modern design/technologies do companies incorporate into an “outdated” office space?

William Hanley

Contemporary companies require spaces unique to their businesses, brands, and the working style they wish to cultivate. How companies incorporate amenities into the office is a great example of how varied workplace design has become. Some employees might prefer things from dining to laundry to be accommodated inside the office—allowing great plans to be hatched over impromptu coffees or on-site happy hours—while others prefer an outward looking office with easy access to shops, cafés, and other amenities, where the formal workplace becomes a hub in a larger urban system.

How have these changes in the way we work influenced workspace design? 

This has led to a proliferation of office types and design ideas, and a huge range of them can be discovered on Kontor. With work by 300 design firms and 100 product brands tagged in the context of built spaces, the platform shows the breadth of contemporary workplace design. It is full of surprising architectural moves and innovative ideas from around the world. You can find anything from playful tech offices to button-up law firms and you can also search for designers or products that have similar qualities.

When we officially launch, you will also be able to share images that you find with colleagues and clients and to follow designers, brands, and people in the interiors world to get updates on their work.

What types of clients typically gravitate towards the designers of innovative offices? Why do you think that is?

Technology has enabled the new ways of working that we just discussed, and so it’s not surprising that many of the innovations that we’re seeing in workplace design started there.

We also see creative industries from design to advertising pushing new ideas about workplace design. It’s crucial in those fields to not only create an inspiring environment for employees but to also have a space that projects a company’s aesthetic and brand when clients visit. This is one of the reasons that we frequently feature the best of particular industries on Kontor. We want to show how designers are experimenting with different ideas in different fields.

What do you think that social work environment offers that a traditional one no longer can?

The workplaces that are built more on relationships and interaction rather than on a traditional, mechanical idea of efficiency, actually allow for more specificity in the way their inhabitants work. A space that allows teams to take control and to find unique systems and rhythms that help them achieve goals and develop new ideas will foster far better results for companies. 

How important is the role of design in the workplace? Do you believe that it influences productivity and worker wellbeing?

Whether you’re a startup huddled around a communal table or a global company opening your newest headquarters, having the right architect or designer is crucial. Everyone needs a complementary design team to creatively address the many, often competitive interests—from employee comfort to construction costs, as well as sustainability and ecological considerations—that go into a workplace project.

At base, a well-designed office can mean the difference between employees fighting with their surroundings and employees aided and inspired by them.

The Office Group is a design-led workspace provider that houses a diverse community of businesses and individuals. Today, they have over 20 established buildings across central London, Bristol and Leeds. Members can decide whether they want to work from a private office, virtual addresses or collaborative coworking space.

We spoke with founder Oliver Olsen, about connectivity, convenience and how space managers can create a healthy, vibrant lifestyle for their members.

How did you imagine an open office when you started TOG, and how do you see the social workplace as representative of a new model of work?

The Office Group Co-CEO Charlie Green and I we were spurred to set up in business based on the desire to get out of the corporate world and create offices that were markedly different to the industry standard.

In all of our various workspaces, we strive to create a sense of community and collaboration. This is important as businesses are becoming more fluid in the way they operate. For example, the use of freelancers and temporary staff joining for short-term projects tends to be more agile and with flexible working hours, remote working, and the rise of the sharing economy there is a growing need to find expertise and advice quickly.

An effective workspace should make it easier for members to find out about each other and thus connect. The person you might need on your next project could be sitting in the same room as you.

Please describe the design of your space. Why are aesthetics and atmosphere so important in today’s workspace?

Olly Olsen

One of the main reasons we wanted to create our own workspaces was that we couldn’t see any offices out there that we would want to work in ourselves.

Our spaces are designed to be comfortable, vibrant, light, and all styles of work. We display artwork from local artists and create bespoke art pieces for each building that reference the history of the building or area.

The look and feel of an office space is important simply because employees spend so much of their day at work. The environment has such a big impact on individual well-being, productivity and creativity that you have to have this in mind at every stage of the design process.

How did you realize what type of space design nurtured productivity?

We learned from our own backgrounds in the industry, and we took as much from the bad things as we did from the good. We work with top architects, interior designers, furniture suppliers and a skilled in-house property team who receive feedback from our members and building managers when it comes to considering the design of a new space.

In your opinion, how has the development of these open spaces influenced the culture of work?

Open coworking spaces have proved that work doesn’t have to mean a traditional 9 to 5 office-based role. They have in turn show that a social, open workspace makes any type of work possible. Many of our members work in teams that are spread throughout the globe, but they are able to work seamlessly through conference calling, Skype and Slack.

Who usually joins the Office Group and what services do you offer them?

Our Community includes everyone from solo freelancers to multi-national blue-chip companies and every type of business in-between. We’re particularly popular with start-up tech companies, creative agencies, recruiters and design firms.

What are the challenges of creating a productive workplace for freelancers?

Today, high-speed wireless internet has allowed start-ups and smaller businesses to be more agile than ever and also allows then to work from anywhere. Therefore, our biggest challenge is to provide an environment that offers real value over and above free workspaces or working from home. We believe that the key to this value is people.

Despite the many ways for business people to connect with each other digitally, what we see is a real desire for real human interaction amongst our members. Our Community Managers get to know all of our members, and help with anything they might need and connect them to others that they might be able to work with.

It seems that larger companies are steadily gravitating towards social workplaces, why do you think that is?

Companies are beginning to realize the importance of social interaction with organizations, both from an employee happiness perspective and from one of innovation. They understand that new ideas can be sparked by the ‘water cooler’ moments and cross-department chats.

Many companies are actively designing their offices in a way that encourages employees to meet, chat and create the ‘eureka’ moments. Today, rather than packing the most offices possible into a building, we’re seeing an emerging trend focused on leisure spaces and open workspaces.

How are the expectations of the modern workforce different from previous models? How does the Office Group address these modern needs?

The view of what an office should be has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. People no longer look for 4 walls and a door, rather they want a space that is light and flexible to suit the changing needs of their business. Most people want a space that looks good, feels good and helps their team be productive.

In addition to this, the way we work is changing. Digital technologies are disrupting almost every industry as well as creating entirely new ones overnight. We need to ensure that our spaces meet the needs of these new ‘digital employees’ and caters equally to those who demand flexible space, like a meeting room for an hour, a desk for just a few days a week, or even just a business address or phone number.

Kursty Groves Knight is a woman of many talents, the author of “I Wish I Worked There! – A Look Inside the Most Creative Spaces in Business” also holds double masters degrees in engineering and industrial design. When Kursty first started writing her book back in 2008, there was very little information about the social workplace, thus she dedicated her work to exploring the link between physical space and creativity.

We caught up with Kursty to find out more about her work, and what she is looking forward most at the upcoming Social Workplace conference.

Hi, Kursty. How did you become interested in social workspaces?

I started off as an industrial designer, so the creative process was always really interesting to me. I was working with a company called ?What If!, and dealing with a lot with topics focusing on capability and innovation culture, which combined my varied interests. Thus, I began thinking, “there is something missing here” and the designer in me was itching to examine the human side of work through the lens of space design.

Do you think the topic of space design is now at the forefront of the discussion concerning the future of work?

Yes, and I find it fascinating that it has become such a major talking point when it comes to discussing the future of work. At the moment, we are at a crossroads and we are seeing all of these current trends and influences coming together and creating a perfect storm of, technology, collaboration, and physical space.

Today, we have a whole new awareness as to how we work, whereas before the topic was of very little importance. Previously, people just went to their desks and had no expectations that their workspace should even be interesting.

How have our attitudes towards work changed since you started writing your book in 2008?

What I started writing my book in 2008 and there was nothing else out there, apart from some books like Creative Office, but even those were mostly driven from the designers perspective. So when I pitched my book, I knew that there was a whole world of information out there concerning office space that was outside of just designers talking to other designers. I decided to focus on how to bring together the topics of design, creativity and innovation from the users’ perspective.

Would you say that corporations are starting to catch on to the concept of social workspaces? If so, why is that? 

Kursty Groves Knight

Yes. I think that more and more traditional businesses are looking towards contemporary work models to find inspiration and new examples of how to do business. Almost all of the workplace models we see today are focused on the social aspect of work culture, as collaboration and creativity are now acknowledged as essential for innovation.

Many of these companies are also increasingly aware of the competition coming from startups, which don’t need to utilize the traditional levers that large organizations have always used, such as well-established distribution channels, brand awareness, or even sheer volume of employees. More than ever, small, agile business are more connected, and bigger companies are seeing this as the inevitable future of how networking will be done. This change is also reflected as a physical manifestation of the shift to a more social workplace.

Do you think that these larger companies sometimes misunderstand the Social Workplace? Meaning, do they try to create their own, without fully understanding the origins of the movement?

We do see that a lot. What I see the most is companies, usually driven by real estate challenges, who look at agile working and think, “oh, lets do that”. They realize something is going on in coworking that attracts people, and they try to cut and paste elements from the movement without considering the whole picture. Some companies may create an open space to enhance collaboration, or even to save money, but there is often a lack of understanding of what the community actually needs.

Do you think that the emergence of the social workplace influenced the current real estate market?

Coworking and social workplaces have had a big impact on real estate. Property owners are seeing that open workspaces are in fact a very lucrative business model, which can potentially deal with many of their previous problems, such as rising costs and empty space.

For example, in Silicon Valley some of the large campuses are now moving downtown because coworking has shown them that they don’t necessarily need these massive open plan offices filled with desks. Work today is much more flexible and moving into more intimate established shared workspace is just as financially viable and doesn’t leave one with the feeling that they are in a factory.

Why are events like the Social Workplace Conference so important in regards to understanding the future of work? And what are you expecting to gain from this year’s conference?

The Social Workplace conference is a macro version of itself. The most powerful aspect of these conferences is the act of bringing people together from diverse backgrounds, but who share common interests. At the upcoming conference in London, I have invited some people from a youth marketing agency, who are set up to help big clients to understand the needs of young people today.

The conference will give organizations like these an important opportunity to learn from people who are much more established, and that goes both ways.

Steve King, partner at Emergent Research, is an expert in the changing workplace. Emergent, is a “boutique research and consulting firm focused on the intersection of small business and the future of work”. Recently, Steve wrote an article for Small Business Labs, exploring the rise of social offices, so we caught up with him to learn more about the future of the social workplace.

Hi, Steve. Why did you decide to look at the Social Workplace as an example to highlight the changing nature of work?

For several years we’ve been exploring the increasing integration between work and life. We’ve also been trying to better understand the linkages between the social side of work and how it relates to productivity, work engagement, and worker wellbeing. Our interest in the Social Workplace is a natural outgrowth of this.

How would you define the “Social Workplace” and how is it representative a new model of work?

Our work in this area is focused on coworking spaces, which are definitely a form of social workplaces. Our most recent survey research shows that the social side of coworking spaces is a key reason people are members. Key findings on this topic from our survey include:

• 87% of members report they meet other members for social reasons
• 54% after work and on weekends
• 33% during work hours
• 89% reported they are happier being a coworking member
• 83% reported they are less lonely since becoming a coworking member
• 78% reported that coworking helps keep them sane

11% even reported they had dated someone the met at coworking facility. This is not to say that work isn’t getting done:

• 84% said they were more engaged and motivated when coworking
• 67% said coworking improved their professional success
• 69% said they feel more successful since joining a coworking space
• 64% of the respondents said their coworking networking was a very important (26%) or an important source of work (38%)

Our definition of the Social Workplace is that it is a place where the boundaries between work lives and personal lives are permeable and blending. As this data shows, coworking spaces fit this definition.

We study coworking spaces because we see them as a leading indicator of where work is going – and because of this we believe the social/work blending at coworking spaces is a strong signal that this trend will continue to grow.

How has the development of the social workplace influenced the culture of work? And what does social work environment offer that a traditional one does not?

Steve King

We think the culture of work is slowly changing in ways that allow more workers increased levels of work autonomy, control and flexibility.

You’ll see these same words in other answers. This is because our research pretty much always comes back to these 3 attributes. If a worker has them, he/she is much more likely to be engaged, productive and happy at work than those who do not.

We think Social Workplaces tend to be places where people have these work attributes, and we believe as the benefits of the Social Workspace becomes better known they will spread.

A good metaphor is “casual dress”. The technology industry moved to much a more casual dress codes starting in the 1970s. Over a period of a decade or so it became clear that workers liked this change and productivity was likely increased. Over time – a long time – casual dress (at least part of the time) spread to pretty much all industries (at least in the U.S.).

We see the same thing happening with social workspaces.

Has your research shown that the social workplace becoming more widely accepted? 

As mentioned above, we see coworking spaces as a leading indicator of general work change. This means it’s likely the type of work/life blending we’re seeing at coworking spaces will become more common in all types of work environments.

How are the expectations of the modern workforce different from previous models? What has changed in the workforce over the last 5 years? What are the current expectations?

We’re seeing a shift towards more emphasis on working to live over living to work. Millennials are talked about a lot when it comes to this shift, but all generations are showing more interest in better work/life balance. Pretty much everyone is also looking for more work autonomy, control and flexibility.

Some people think that happiness in the workplace isn’t really important, but recent studies are showing it actually does improve productivity, would you agree? Do you have any examples to back this up?

It’s easy to dismiss happiness in the workplace as not being important, but too many studies show happiness and productivity is tightly linked. It’s also self-evident – who doesn’t think they are better at work when they are happy?

Our research on independent workers (the self-employed, freelancers, independent contractors, etc.) shows a strong correlation between productivity, worker views of their professional success and happiness.

Put more simply, those that are happy at work do a better job and consider themselves more successful.

Coworking has been a solid example of changes in attitude towards workplace culture, do you think it will continue to grow and improve? Do you think it is possible for larger corporate entities to integrate coworking into their business model?

There are no signs coworking is slowing down – if anything on a global level the growth is accelerating. Our forecast is for rapid continued growth out to 2020 and beyond.

Corporations are already integrating coworking into their business models. This is especially true when it comes to close partners and suppliers. We expect this to continue, to expand and to become more common in the early 2020s. Remember, workforce shifts tend to happen relatively slowly.

Do you think that changes in the workplace will also affect various business platforms, such as real estate?

We do. In particular the long term lease (10 years or more) doesn’t really work given the amount economic volatility, uncertainty and change that exist today. We think more firms will choose “workplace as a service” models that provide more business flexibility and agility. This will lead to major changes in commercial real estate. Again, these changes will not happen quickly – but they will happen. The rapid growth of firms like WeWork and Industrious are examples of this shift.

Amanda Gray

Oliver Marlow, designer, Creative Director and co-founder of Studio TILT, has “always been fascinated in the way people interact with space”. Oliver looks at the ways in which organisational “dynamics play out and how design can help or hinder the way people can come together.” As the co-organizer of the upcoming Social Workplace conference, we spoke with Oliver about how the emerging social workspace is influencing today’s work culture.

Hi Oliver, why was it important to you to co-organize the Social Workplace 2015 conference?

Coworking is now the workplace zeitgeist, but we have also been involved in coworking for 10 years, long before it had a name. Today, we recognise that it is the perfect time to come to together to look at how Coworking 2.0 might look.

What’s your definition of the Social Workplace and how is it representative of a new model of work? 

Oliver Marlow

The social workplace returns to effective human needs. It is a shift from space defined as a “container” to space as an “enabler”. It looks beyond the monumentality of working environments to something more fluid, humble, connected, inspiring and healthy.

What does a social work environment offer that a traditional one does not?

The characteristics of a social work environment are associated with high innovation potential and with creating a user-centred language of space and use.

Social workplaces are designed based on how surroundings affect mood, behaviour and the ability to create. They allow for a flexible space that can be used to gather varying stakeholders together.

Please describe how your “codesign strategy” influences workplace interactions, productivity and the overall dynamic of Studio TILT. How did you realise what worked best?

We design together, with people. We enable space to create experience and community, as well as identity. If you do this well, you can create an atmosphere in a place that people want to belong to and where you can thrive.

Codesign for me is the essence of the social workplace. It enables a community of workers to explore and understand their needs in order to work together more effectively, with joy and also with purpose.

Is the social workplace becoming more widely accepted?

The conversation around the impact of the physical environment on workplace behaviour has grown over the past few years. This has been aided by the changing nature of the way we work and the increasing importance of creativity in many industries. However, there is still no resource that is either extensive or conclusive specifically around building environments for creativity. We are at the beginning of this journey.

What are some of the challenges of creating a productive workplace for freelancers?

Freelancers work for themselves, but they need to work together to survive. By being part of a community of work a freelancer feels connected and supported. This model will be the norm in the years to come, and the design challenge is to find ways to allows others to join such a community. It shouldn’t matter where you come from: different sectors, age groups, skills sets, organisational experiences.

How are the expectations of the modern workforce different from previous models? How do you address these modern needs?

I think expectations today are towards a more profound need. Work is so all encompassing that the work-life balance is now the work-life integration. The key design factor is one of convergence. The modern workforce needs so many more physiological needs met within their place of work. This will only continue.

As a designer, I address these emerging needs by looking at ever more ways to layer the functions of workspaces. I look how to mix different types of spaces and create environments that feel convivial and rewarding to be inside. This convergence of spaces is leading us back to an understanding of how the mix of civic, commercial and leisure spaces are all an integral part of our everyday lives.

The OpenWork Agency was founded by David Walker and Drew Jones about a year ago. David graduated from business school at UT Austin and has been a serial entrepreneur his whole career. Along with Dusty Reagan, Cesar Torres, and John Eric Metcalf, David founded Austin coworking space, Conjunctured in 2008. Drew joined the team in 2011, and has an academic and consultancy background, in addition to experience teaching Organizational Behavior in business schools and consulting businesses in the areas of corporate culture and leadership for 15 years.

Today, OpenWork has collaborated with various partners on specific projects, most recently Liz Elam of Link Coworking and GCUC. The platform aims to promote an open work philosophy and offers tools to large enterprises that will enable them to learn how to manage their cultural resources.

Hi, Drew. How did you make the transition from starting off as the first coworking space in Austin to being a global platform? And why did you feel that transition was necessary?

OpenWork is the vision David and I developed for bringing the design and ethos of coworking to big companies who were re-thinking their workplace strategies. Our recent work with real-estate developers has kind of been by accident, though it is keeping us busy. Our goal in the long term is to work with large firms as they incorporate more of an open work philosophy for managing their cultural resources.

From the beginning, being a part of the flow of two coworking spaces (SHIFT and Conjunctured) it became clear to us that this (i.e. coworking) is the most organic work arrangement that humans have yet devised in a post-technological society. Freedom of choice, autonomy, and the opportunity to form communities of one’s own choosing, transforms work from being all about other people’s imperatives to being about authenticity and dignity.

While a bit idealistic, at OpenWork we would like to bring this to as many organizations as possible, especially those firms where the flow of work currently is defined by needless hierarchy and toxicity.

What’s your definition of the social workplace, and how is it representative of the future of work?

I think of the social workplace as the intersection of spaces with policies that empower people to work according to their own rhythms. In that humans are a social species, we seek out sociality as a central, though not sole, context in which to get work done. This is why Activity Based Work (ABW) is, I believe, so important.

Companies such as Veldhoen + Company have pioneered a model of working wherein all members of a firm- beginning with the CEO and other senior leadership- forego a private office, and thus work among ‘everyone else.’ This removes the physical hierarchy inscribed in office design.

Also, and quite importantly, in ABW office, employees don’t have to come into the office every day, but most still choose to come in. Given that they are not coming in to nest in a fixed space with pictures of their family, what they seem to be turning up for is the social atmosphere. That is, they are attracted to the community more so than the physical status of a posh ‘office as perk’. This is why, despite all of the innovation that happens in the US, ABW is so slow in coming here. Our deep-rooted individualism is hard for folks to abandon.

The Open Work agency introduced a series of “work/ social” concepts, can you please elaborate on what these concepts are, and how you developed them.

Our work/social vision is a workplace software platform- Nomatik– that has so far not taken off at all. We lack the capital and skills to develop it in house, so it is just sitting on the shelf at this time. However, we would like to be able to offer clients a tool that enables a mix of full-time employees, and freelancers/contractors, to find each other and meetup to work and share resources wherever they are- whether that is at a coffee shop near their homes or at the office. Ideally, in the long run, we’d like to help create a platform where freelancers can plug into this too, as a pipeline of projects and career support as well.

Please describe the design of OpenWork Agency, and why the look and feel of a space is so important.

Since we closed Conjunctured, OpenWork is a virtual company. We work out of several different coworking spaces here in Austin- Link Coworking, Orange Coworking, and Patchwork Austin. As for the importance of design, it is critical to making sociality and collaboration possible, hopefully probable. We work with an architecture firm in our client work so that we have professionalism in how we advise in the planning and designing process.

I would add that designing policies is as important as designing spaces. A business can have the most awesome spaces in the world, but if employees are locked into Theory X policies then the space is just pretty furniture.

How did you realize what type design thinking nurtured productivity?

For us, Design Thinking is a kind of systems thinking. In my book- The Fifth Age of Work– I start with that question: If a designer were put in charge of HR and facilities management, what would she/he do? This starts with taking much of the ‘stupid’ out of work, such as unnecessary commutes, cubicles, 40 hour work weeks, 50 week work years, mindless reporting and controlling processes, etc. From there, the challenge is to physically design the spaces in a way that supports how humans naturally interact with one another. Of course, this is no one way. Philosophically, our point of view is inspired by the work of architect Christopher Alexander and his books- The Timeless Way of Building, and A Pattern Language.

How has the development of open work spaces influenced work culture?

Drew Jones

So far it is really hard to tell. There is a big difference between those legacy companies who redesigned their spaces to be “cool”, but don’t actually change any of their policies regarding employee choice and flexibility.

On the other hand, when you look at the offices of companies such as Yelp, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Rackspace, etc., open and flexible cultures precede and define the spaces in the first instance. One of our biggest goals, and challenges, is to see how the open design (of coworking) can transform the culture of a large, conventional, legacy company, over the long term. We are in conversation with a few companies that show a small appetite for this, but we’ve yet to really dig in and have a go with this type of client.

What does a social work environment offer that a traditional one does not? Do you think that more corporate entities respond better to a social/work environment? Why?

An open/social work environment offers choice, flexibility, and autonomy. Sadly, the operating system of most American public companies is all about control, centralized decision making, and shareholder value. The idea that young knowledge workers can (and should) come and go as they choose and work when and where they choose, is sadly just an annoyance (and possibly a new cost) for people locked into the culture of shareholder value returns. I am convinced that, if firms actually implement open policies in conjunction with open spaces, then their people will be more engaged, energetic, and productive. People just need to be set free to get to this point.

How are the expectations of the modern workforce different from previous models? What are the current expectations, and how do you address these modern needs?

A combination of technology and the rising generation of Millennials is transforming just about everything about work. So much of what happens in offices, still, happens because that’s the way it’s always been done. Given that firms and employees no longer have much of a mutual commitment to one another, the whole calculus of work is changing.

Workers know that they are likely just passing through, doing some work here and there on their way to the next one. For their part, companies need to acknowledge this, and respond by allowing workers (full-time and freelancer) to work in ways that work for them.

The good news, for both sides of the equation, is that if firms allow young knowledge workers to drive this process, it not only works for the workers but is also, via the cloud, mobility, and a much-reduced real estate footprint, it can also be good for firms as well.

Amanda Gray

Central London commercial property researcher, Sophy Moffat, is an expert in real estate market trends. She is currently the head of the Central London research team at DTZ  (recently merged with Cushman & Wakefield), which offers investors, tenants and developers industry knowledge, in order to help them find the best solution to their accommodation needs.

Sophy will be speaking at this year’s Social Workplace conference in London, and we caught up with her to learn more about her latest research project ‘How You Work’.

Hi Sophy, what are the current trends you are seeing in the real estate and commercial property market in London?

Firstly, there are attempts to attract and retain talent in the face of global skills shortages, which means many businesses are taking a more employee-centric approach when it comes to real estate. Ultimately, this means that they are placing increased emphasis on workplace strategy and design.

Secondly, the head count in high-cost locations is under review; many firms are thinking about what roles need to be located in New York, London and so on. Also, many businesses are opening or expanding into additional hubs in more affordable locations.

Thirdly, technology is of growing importance. It helps ensure that tasks are simple, space is optimized, and remote working and cross-border collaboration are possible. Making room for flexibility and fostering innovation, as well as technology helps to optimize space and ultimately reduces real estate costs.

Overall, the trends we are seeing are centered on workplace strategy and design, as well as technology-enablement, location, and cost.

What do today’s tenants expect from a commercial property? Have those expectations changed in recent years?

In London and other gateway cities, the majority of global businesses we work with seek Grade A office space. That’s usually a given. It’s the social aspect – outside spaces, work-hubs, breakout areas, atriums, gym-quality services – that are of growing importance. This is because the world of work is changing: the ‘social workplace’ is no longer sought by the tech, creative and media sectors alone, but by a growing pool of large corporate tenants. Additionally, technology companies may have been first to customize their own unique experience around a core product and there is also a growing expectation that property should work like that too.

How has the transition from traditional office space to the “social workplace” affected the property market? Has it been a positive change? If so, why?

Having a more social, employee-oriented office is generally seen as positive. Perhaps most exciting for gateway cities globally is the fact that the ‘social workplace’ is playing an integral role in urban regeneration. When we look at regeneration schemes and concepts including King’s Cross in London, Dumbo Heights in Brooklyn, Factory Berlin and Fuxing Plaza in Shanghai, it can be seen that flexible office providers like WeWork and The Office Group, who epitomize the ‘social workplace’ are early stage tenants of this movement.

Thus, forward-thinking developers will choose to incorporate a social aspect, knowing that the vital injection of business diversity that stimulates many of the economic and social dynamics is needed in the workspace.

Sophy Moffat

What have coworking spaces and social workplaces done for commercial property? Have they improved their value? If so, how?

So far, there aren’t many hard and fast stats on coworking because it is a relatively new industry. But, it is clear that the adoption of Activity Based Working – which has been the subject of various research studies does create value.

In 2002, Deutsche Bank started to introduce ‘db Smart Office’ – a new way of working within the organization that provided a wide range of settings to support the full spectrum of working tasks, from collaborative team space, to heads-down working areas. The aim was to help promote a multi-functional use of office space, encouraging communication, flexibility and also privacy.

The benefits so far have include reduced occupancy costs, due to reduction in spatial requirements projected to be between 10-30%, recouping of associated project costs within only 24 months due to savings made. We have also seen improved employee productivity at work, better technology in the workplace, and the ability to increase employee populations without additional real estate expenses. So yes, encouraging communication and flexibility do seem to create value!

What changes does the commercial property market have to make in order to meet the needs of today’s worker?

As businesses adjust to the realities of increasing rents and the rapid pace of a globalized, technology-enabled market, one of the biggest challenges they face is people.  Businesses will find that ‘social workplace’ trends are not simply about creating open plan layouts or adding cafés, but also about giving people control and flexibility in their environment. This is all about enabling connections and creating a community beyond corporate meetings, as well as allowing employees to work in ways that give them meaning, and purpose.

The principles embodied by the ‘social workplace’ can help surmount a range of challenges. As Jay Cross, president of Related Hudson Yards, puts it: “You not only want to have a smart phone today — you want to live in a smart building and a smart community”.  What the commercial property market has to do is keep up with tech, design, and new workplace strategy trends.

What will you be speaking about at this year’s social workplace conference?

I will be speaking about our latest research project ‘How You Work’ which, explores the trajectory flexible offices have taken by analyzing growth determinants and assessing the impact of modern cultural trends on the demand for flexible working.

The report shows how companies in New York, London, Shanghai, and Berlin are using flexible workspaces to share resources, reduce infrastructure spending and increase employee efficiency. It will also look at how talent recruitment and retention are critical drivers of the flexible office market.    www.dtz.com/howyouwork

Amanda Gray

Inspired by the coworking movement, corporations around the world have started to break down their cubical walls and replace them with open-plan workspaces in order to ease both their business and employees into the workplace of the future.

Yet, there are still some types of enterprise that would seem to have a hard time redefining themselves, and one of those is the bank. The banking industry seems to be defined by the barriers set between the customer and the teller. A space that can be utilized only for business transactions and leaves little room for collaboration and change.

As we prepare for the upcoming Social Workplace conference, we set out to find how far coworking’s reach has extended and found that some banks are already adopting the model. We found 5 international banks that are reaping the benefits of coworking, whether it’s supporting an existing space or even opening their own.   

NAB, Australia

The Australian Financial Review recently wrote piece highlighting the convergence of banks and coworking spaces. This is not just good for employee well-being, but the growth also gives anyone with a real estate footprint the chance to cater to the market. The National Australia Bank has opened their own space, The Village, which has seen great success. For banks, the coworking and social workplace model, gives them the chance to use their space more efficiently and also attract new clients while satisfying the current ones.

St. George Bank, Australia

St. George Bank, owned by the Westpac Banking Corporation, opened their first space last year and has just recently opened a second one. Phillip Godkin explained in an article on AFR that the coworking model has created a sense of community amongst their small – businesses customer, which has been good for the bank overall. Their space, Business Hub, is committed to helping small businesses get their start and offers memberships to those who are both customers and non-customers.

BNP Paribas Fortis, Belgium 

Located in the center of Brussels, co. Station is home to a variety of young companies and business starters “geared to supporting fledgling digital enterprises at the growth stage – known as ‘scale-ups’ – which are in search of the right people with the right expertise to help them take the next step”. The space has forged a partnership with Belgian bank BNP Paribas Fortis, in order to offer the resources to innovative companies that will ensure their success in an increasingly social ecosystem.

KBC, Belgium 

In cooperation with BelCham, the Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce, KBC bank opened a shared workspace in mid-town Manhattan, Atelier. The space caters to members who are looking to expand their business in the United States, and offers regular meetups that aim to help their coworkers to become acquainted with what’s happening in the European business world as well as in the US. Coworkers range from family offices, to Angel investors; VC’s and various selected members that focus on entrepreneurial projects.

Silicon Valley Bank, USA

The Silicon Valley Bank doesn’t have it’s own space but is part of the “urban core” strategy, which utilizes coworking spaces in order to become more approachable. In Austin, Texas, the bank moved from their office building to a location that puts them in close proximity to coworking spaces like WeWork.

As Silicon Valley Bank is dedicated to working with tech companies; being close to open workspaces allows them to have access to a pool of local entrepreneurs, which ultimately brings in new business.

Conjunctured Coworking in Austin, Texas (USA) was easily one of the city’s most well-loved spaces. After 6 productive years, Conjunctured closed its doors and the partners have now moved on to their latest project: The OpenWork Agency. The platform offers clients, from traditional offices to government agencies consultation on how to leverage the traditional coworking model in order “build community, commitment, and greater levels of engagement, serendipity, and innovation.”

How a coworking space imagines corporate coworking

Austin is an economic boomtown with newcomers locating there every day. Many people looking for a coworking space in the city end up at Conjunctured, run by very attentive, forward-thinking people with an eye for design and a heart for mankind. They are launching a pioneering initiative called corporate coworking, bring the coworking model into the heart of the corporate body in order to reshape and revitalize corporate structure so they attract and retain the best minds the U.S. workforce has to offer. Meanwhile, David Walker works on transcending the stranger society.

So how does one restructure a somewhat rigid system and integrate a social and creative side, which will be able to benefit people and business? David Walker has been tweaking the website to formally launch the Conjunctured’s new pivot, which takes the idea of a coworking ecosystem and combines it with corporations looking to rediscover their culture and rediscover the heart of their organization. Call it cultural evolution consulting.

He’s lucky to have, co-running the Conjunctured team, the esteemed Thomas Heatherly, a former marketing field specialist at Google who calls Conjunctured’s coworking community a friendship machine and works to connect the space to the external community, and Drew Jones, a corporate behavior anthropologist/professor who helped put together the first book on coworking.

After he read an article in 2006 about the very first coworking space in San Francisco called The Spiral Muse, he had been collecting clippings about every article that came out on coworking while teaching full-time at a business school in England. His new book,The Fifth Age of Work, will be out in late October/early November. Jones has the gift of looking ahead by recognizing the interweaving patterns of cultural trends.

“I knew it was the beginning of a pattern,” he said. “There were, at that time, already 20 million freelancers and it just made sense.”

It was Jones’ idea to combine coworking with corporations to help corporate bodies evolve with the new demands and expectations that go hand in hand with the types of recruits growing up in today’s workforce. The guys at Conjunctured love to quote the statistic that by 2020, 40 percent of the U.S. workforce will be a freelance economy. It’s the mantra that drives them.

“There’s not a coworking space yet that is putting together an offering that is presenting coworking to companies as a change management process,” Jones said. “Companies of all sorts are at different points in their growth. They look to change directions, recruit different sorts of people, or they’re going through a merger, trying to be more mindful of the values they want to try to support in the company.”

They’ll do this by, for one, focusing on opening up the physical space and designing different areas to benefit a range of tasks. Jones doesn’t take all the credit; corporate coworking is Conjunctured’s twist on “activity-based work,” a parallel movement taking place in Germany, the Netherlands, some of the UK and primarily in Australia, Jones said. It’s a concept a Dutch consulting firm first put on the map and started using.

They are inviting a selection of companies around Austin and Houston for daylong workshops to introduce them to the concept of coworking, back up how it works and present it as an option.

“We’ll start that in August; time it with the publication of my book at the end of October so to tie these together,” Jones said. “Come fall, we’ll be much more aggressively supporting this concept. These are new concepts for lots of people, they don’t sink in quickly for many people.”

Welcome To Conjunctured, Are You Familiar With Coworking?

Austin is an economic boom town with newcomers relocating there every day.

It boasts a high rate of successful established coworking spaces all over the city, including Link and Posh Coworking in the North/Central area;Brainstorm Coworking, Opportunity Space, Perch Coworking, Soma Vida, Conjunctured, Space 12, Chicon Collective and Center61 in the East area; GoLab Austin and Capital Factory downtown;  and the art-heavy Vuka located South of downtown. People looking for the perfect coworking space to suit their needs in Austin try a few different ones before settling on their favorite. Many people end up at Conjunctured, the first free-standing coworking house in the United States.

During the 1920s, a family lived in this very house and stored wine in the cellar during Prohibition. Today people work here with the open freedom to bring out their full personality in an office environment. The Conjunctured house has three rooms with large, sleek wooden table where people work at their laptops and thin desktops.

Down the hall there is a bathroom with a sink that holds stones, so when you wash your hands it’s a little like being at a little river; a Zen-garden lagoon below your hands, if you will; a more romantic way to wash up. Across from the little washroom is the conference room, where a ping-pong table doubles as a conference table. There’s a kitchen with a full coffee bar, and around the corner from that is the fridge they keep in the lounge room, equipped with lime-green couches, musical instruments, magazines and a scalp massager.

Sometimes it’s full of lively chatter, jokes and brainstorming, and sometimes there’s just one person half-passed out for a post-lunch siesta.

The One-Week Trial

David Walker is working on a theory he calls Transcending the Stranger Society, wherein coworking spaces are the world’s first cultural stepping stone for a stranger-less environment.

“It’s really funny that we live in a society where you go to a coffee shop and you sit next to someone for hours on end but you don’t have social permission to introduce yourself,” he said. “It’s this weird bubble you exist in; you remove your personality from a situation and everyone is removing their personalities from these retail spaces. Anywhere in our entire society, people convert themselves into strangers; it’s all these strangers hanging out in this place together.”

Walker says a one-day trial isn’t enough time for a potential coworker to feel comfortable in the new space, and it takes closer to a week to merge with the undertones of the social atmosphere. In a society of people suspicious of others intentions, there is a real need to systematically construct trust. Trust construction, Walker calls it.

“We don’t have very many rules,” he said. “We’re lax on any kinds of guidelines we do have. That helps people feel more comfortable and feel more of a citizen rather than a customer.”

A 24-hour access membership runs $275 a month. You can also sign up for the basic membership at $25 a month to show up once a month for free and any other time you show up it will cost $15. The first day is free. You can also request a one-week free trial.

Actually, Walker envisions a system where some of us don’t have to work menial jobs that don’t use our special gifts.

“There’s this great quote by someone famous where he talks about how it’s so silly that we all have jobs now,” Walker said. “We could easily evolve as a society so not everyone needs to work. With technology scaling at the speed that it is, we can create money and generate income; we just need to learn how to share it. We should be living in a society to encourage society members to do what they’re passionate about. It’s funny we tell artists who are fantastic painters they need to work hourly wage jobs to pay rent because our society would benefit more from these artists creating beautiful things for everyone.”

We’re at a point in our techno-global revolution where these crazy ideas are tinged with feasibility.

“At the end of the day I think we’re going to evolve as a world where we don’t need to make money,” Walker said. But in the meanwhile, he’s working on bring coworking to corporations, those modern timeless money-machine factories that have been a staple of the American landscape since we seized it from the Native Americans. Wherever it is coworking is taking us, people are responding to it.

Remember When We Pretended Other People Didn’t Exist?

Walker thinks that in the future, we’re going to look back on this period of time and be like, ‘Remember when we pretended other people didn’t exist when we walked into coffee shops?’

“It’s ’cause no one has created a system in our society that has facilitated a way for people to interact with each other easily,” he said. “People are oftentimes afraid to interact with someone ’cause they don’t feel like it’s appropriate. They’re afraid of violating a social norm. The more and more I’ve kind of watched coworking grow and noticed it here, I’ve realized how unique it is to be able to walk into a physical retail space and at the end of the day actually know everyone’s name that is working there and feel permission to share with them your personality and receive their personality. I think that’s magical.”

Walker thinks the culture in the States has been driven to isolationism, and that coworking is a systematic cure to re-socialize society. “I’ll bet most coworking members don’t have high levels of stress,” Walker said. “Have you looked up stress in the workplace statistics? Maybe doctors should start prescribing coworking spaces to people. Stick it on Obamacare.”

Eva Dameron

This article was originally posted on Deskmag

The Harvard Business Review recently published an article that gets to the heart of why workers thrive in coworking spaces. The ongoing research touches on a topic of which many of us are already familiar: coworking. It is well known that the movement has gained significant popularity due to a sense of community and a relaxed work environment, but the recent study aims to go deeper into why exactly people seem to do much better socially and professionally in the coworking environment.

For this latest piece, HBR interviewed a handful of coworking space founders and community managers, as well as surveyed several hundred workers spread out across dozens of spaces throughout the United States.

Where do coworkers find their meaning?

Coworkers, as opposed to employees working in traditional offices, are often much more satisfied and find their work meaningful. This feeling of fulfillment in the workplace is derived from the fact that coworkers are able to“bring their whole selves to work”.

For starters, most coworkers both novice or experienced, tend to appreciate that they have the ability to choose which projects they would like to take on. A greater degree of autonomy allows workers to accept projects not solely based on the paycheck, but also because it gives them the opportunity to increase their network and acquire valuable skills and knowledge.

Take this professional independence and combine it with like-minded individuals, and the result will often be a productive and happy community, much like those found in coworking spaces.

Workers don’t just want to be more social, they need to be

Grind Coworking, NYC

There is a strong argument supporting the fact that individuals are more productive and satisfied when surrounded by a supportive community and the traditional office space has failed to consider our natural need for socialization and communication.

Thus, the emergence of coworking is in many ways an answer to our desire to be closer to our peers, both emotionally and professionally. As the majority of members in coworking spaces are often not professionally linked, they lose the sense that they are competing with their office mates, which promotes communication and collaboration.

As more and more spaces adopt the coworking model, employees look back at their former cubicles like an animal that has finally been let out into the wild. In other words, many workers have little to no desire to go back, and movements like the Coworking Manifesto are proof that today’s workers have a new set of standards when it comes to the workplace. These new expectations often include the need for transparency, collaboration, knowledge, and sustainability. HBR’s researchers suggest that “in many cases, it’s not simply the case that a person is going to work; they’re also part of a social movement.”

Coworking is starting to extend beyond coworking spaces

The Harvard Business Review also makes note that an increasing amount of employees from large enterprises are also joining coworking spaces. Grind in NYC and Co-merge are examples of spaces that have seen an influx in members who are coming from the more traditional employment sector. But It’s also not just the workers, the companies themselves are also looking to coworking spaces for inspiration, especially when it comes to space design and community engagement. Menlo Innovations expanded their office space by 7,000 sq ft. (650 sq meters) to make room for start-ups and entrepreneurs who will “work alongside Menlo programmers to spur community and innovation”.

While these workplace changes are often an improvement from the standard office space, it is important for these larger companies to understand that simply adding a café or communal spaces won’t immediately create a thriving workspace. Before making changes, traditional enterprises must observe and understand what changes in the workplace would improve employee well-being and build-up the space around their needs.

Overall, “the combination of a well-designed work environment and a well-curated work experience are part of the reason that people who cowork demonstrate higher levels of thriving than their office-based counterparts”.

This topic will be at the heart of the upcoming Social Workplace conference.

Read the full article at The Harvard Business Review