CAFM & IT A DESIGN FOR LIFE


How will we be linking design, productivity and wellbeing in meeting rooms of the future? Luis De Souza, CEO of NFS Technology Group, connects the dots.


When the LinkedIn network features around a thousand managers who describe themselves as ‘Chief Happiness Officer’, you can tell that wellbeing has moved right up the workplace agenda.


That’s only right and proper, of course, from a moral point of view. But it also makes sense from a business perspective – happy and comfortable workers tend to be more productive.


As workplace strategist Joelle Jach recently explained: “By understanding the connection between humans and their environment, and by providing an environment that supports human needs, organisations can target cost savings as well as an engaged workforce.”


So are we happy in our current


working environments? Part of that is definitely down to us, the workers. A survey of the personalities of more than 3000 UK employees found that those who had most good days at work were those who scored high for positive emotions and enthusiasm, lower on depressive tendencies and who tended to start things and finish them.


You might say: ‘Well, they would have good days, wouldn’t they?”


“Being content at work will to a larger extent depend on the workplace culture that truly values staff.”


But the co-author of the study, Manchester University professor of organisational psychology and health Cary Cooper, said: “The implication here is that employers should try and recruit people with these characteristics but, of course, some people who lack some of these characteristics may have key skills that are even more important.


“And, even if you do recruit with happiness traits in mind, being content at work will to a larger extent depend on the workplace culture that truly values staff, trusts them, manages them humanely and compassionately and provides them with greater balance in their lives.”


With the cost of workspace continuing to escalate, many organisations are looking hard at their offices and meeting rooms, and examining how their workers actually use them.


28 | TOMORROW’S FM


But while other studies have found that being able to work in different locations is empowering and satisfying, that only applies if organisations implement carefully thought- out policies.


The savviest companies are using workspace software that enables flexible workers to find and book the space they need online, often even before they come into the office.


Workspace management systems are now so sophisticated they can help staff select not only a desk or room, but also a quiet spot, a cool or warm area to work or specific technology they will need.


This kind of technology is also invaluable in responding to the worldwide change in use of meeting space.


Formal meeting rooms and boardrooms are increasingly a thing of the past, with offices opting for bookable and flexible space where people can get together.


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They are taking the opportunity to re-design their existing workspace, or even moving into new purpose- built space designed by architects with wellbeing and productivity in mind.


Things have moved quite a way since companies simply installed ping-pong tables or – in one case – a slide from one floor to the other.


We’re not talking about short-lived fun any more, but rather about sustainable design with mental health at its core. So first, let’s look at what office designers are having to cater for.


The trends changing the way we use


our workplaces Agile working is perhaps the biggest of these changes, and it’s on many people’s minds – a recent survey found a third of UK workers would rather have flexible working than a pay rise.


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