Office environments for effective and efficient work

Workplace management includes the conception, planning and design of workplaces and work environments as well as their management (maintenance, financial control, optimization). The main focus is on the best possible support of the main activities, strategy, culture and image of an organization and the efficient use of resources (buildings, rooms and services). The field of activity of workplace management thus clearly goes beyond space management and includes the design of the functional, sensory and emotional experience in the working environment.

Office environment as a resource

The increased attention paid to the working environment as a resource is based on the realization that, viewed over the life cycle of an office building, labor costs exceed space costs many times over. The costs for the design and management of the working environment are therefore understood as an investment in the employees. Findings from research support this approach. There are substantial correlations between the users' assessment of the working environment and their work performance, satisfaction and health.

Often, the effects of the office environment are attributed to the office type. In this context, office types such as individual, group and open-plan offices are compared with each other. However, research shows that the type of office does not have a significant influence on the outcome variables (work performance, satisfaction and health). Rather, it is the quality of the workspaces and workstations that is decisive. The quality of the furniture and the fit of the work environment to the work tasks as well as socio-spatial factors play an important role. A central influencing factor of a socio-spatial nature is the extent of disturbances and distractions experienced by office users. The design of the work environment has a significant influence on disturbances and distractions, which are independent of the work tasks. Office workers strive to maintain an optimal level of interaction with others. The regulation of social proximity and distance is described by the technical term "privacy" and includes, for example, control over what work colleagues can overhear from their own telephone conversations or whether they can look at colleagues' workstations or screens. Privacy is consistently seen as a key predictor of office satisfaction. The lack of privacy leads to stress, since socio-spatial stressors (e.g. acoustic disturbances) in the environment cannot be sufficiently influenced. For the regulation of privacy, opportunities for retreat are more important than the office form as such.

Office acoustics

The discussion of noise and office acoustics also shows that the comparison between different office types is not very useful: Noise is an ongoing issue in many offices. Noise pollution is not a problem because of the volume; the disturbing effect of noise is rather the resulting interruption of the work process. These interruptions occur because employees are spoken to or because conversations between colleagues attract attention. Often, however, it is precisely these conversations that constitute a simple flow of information. The importance of information exchange varies depending on the work activity. The discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of open-plan offices is therefore only logical in connection with the work tasks.

Office design and organizational culture

In addition to the design qualities that determine the functionality of the working environment, sensory and emotional qualities of the design of working environments are also important. The appropriateness of the work environment is not only to be evaluated in terms of work tasks and processes and associated user needs. Rather, work environments are also a component of organizational culture and carry symbolic messages that have important influences on work performance. High-quality and attractively designed work environments allow employees to experience pride and express high regard for the organization toward its employees. Similarly, the prompt response to complaints regarding the work environment by facility or workplace management expresses appreciation and can thus contribute to well-being.

Office workstation utilization

Studies on office workstation utilization show that typical active use of office workstations is less than 40 percent. Due to meetings, client appointments, continuing education, home office, vacations and other absences, many office workstations remain unused during the course of a typical workday. This is true even when short-term absences from the individual workstation are taken into account. That is, when the workstation is occupied but not in use. Even in this case, around 45 percent of workstations are unused on average.

Organizations are therefore beginning to eliminate the assignment of employees to workstations - where this makes sense based on the employees' work tasks and mobility. Office workstations are no longer assigned to individuals, but to groups of people who share the individual spaces (desksharing). This allows part of the office space to be freed up for other purposes, such as alternative work scenarios (lounge, library, retreat rooms, project rooms).

Farewell to "one size fits all

Contemporary office spaces are designed to provide the best possible support for organizations in terms of their core activities, culture, image and efficient use of resources. Combining the support of employees with the efficient use of resources means that modern organizations are moving away from the "one size fits all" approach to office workspace design and are designing their office environments to be activity-oriented: Qualitatively different office scenarios are designed for different work activities and made available to employees. Due to the increasing mobility of employees, the fixed assignment of employees to workstations is being eliminated. The added value that can be realized through the design, management and operation of office environments must be carefully aligned with the organizational goals, the employees and the technology used.

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