Helping CREM with the implementation of a modern work environment that supports employees and their activities An analysis of different preferences in.

Helping CREM with the implementation of a modern work environment that supports employees and their activities

An analysis of different preferences in 5 European countries

Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek ([email protected])

Astrid Kemperman

Marianne Liebregts

Tim Oldman

Introduction

• Innovation: worker most important production factor • CREM focus supporting employees

• Trend = activity based working in modern work environments • work environment adapted to preferences (can also fail)

• contribute to employee satisfaction and leverage talent

• Way employees experience + use office depends national culture• implementing new ways of working might require

different strategies in different countries

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Research question

• Study employee preferences • work activities + environment

• 5 European countries

1.Does the importance of workplace activities differ between countries?

2.Does the importance of the features and facilities of the workplace environment differ between countries

3.Is there a difference in the importance of elements of the work environment for important workplace activities per country?

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Culture and workplace design

• Culture consequences way people think, behave, solve problems, make decisions, plans their homes/ cities, etc (Hall, 1976)

• Values harder toinfluence

• Multinationalscopy strategy in countries

• Goal ABW toincreasesatisfaction +productivity

PAGE 4(Karahanna et al, 2005)

= CREM focus

= our focus

Culture and workplace design

• Cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1991)

• Power distance, individualism, femininity, etc.

• Steelcase (2009): dimensions influence way work environment is designed, e.g.:• Power distance reflection of authority/position• Uncertainty avoidance KS in reserved spaces

• Plijters (2012): national culture affects most:• type of office, • density, • privacy, • placement of management

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Research approach

• Secondary data Leesman database• Online questionnaire since 2010 • 2013: 95% data from Europe 32,006 respondents from 5

European countries

• Diverse industries, all office workers

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Country # locations # respondents % of total

France 7 280 0.9 %Germany 7 79 0.2 %The Netherlands 12 990 3.1 %Great Britain 204 21,129 66.0 %Sweden 12 9,528 29,7 %Total 242 32,006 100.0 %

Research approach

• Importance employees attach to:• Activities • Features • Facilities

• Factor analysis • Principal component analysis• Varimax rotation• Eigenvalues less or equal to 1.0

• F-test • Mean factor scores for differences countries

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Workplace activities, features and facilities• Activities at centre decision-making workplace (Raymond & Cunliffe, 1997)

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Taxonomy of activities Activities included in analyses

Behind the computer Individual routine tasks

Writing Individual focused work, desk basedReading ReadingOn the Phone Telephone conversation

Archiving Individual focused work away from your desk

In a meeting

Video conferencesHosting visitors, clients or customersPrivate conversationsBusiness confidential discussionsLearning from othersCollaborating on focused workCollaborating on creative work

Informal talkInformal social interactionInformal, unplanned meetingsPrivate conversations

Presenting

Planned meetingsLager group meetings or audiencesAudio conferencesSpreading out paper or materials

Using technical / specialist equipment or materials

Lunch

Relaxing / taking a breakToilet visitCoffee breakOther break

(Appel-Meulenbroek et al, 2011)

Workplace activities, features and facilities

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Taxonomy of features (Brill et al. 2001) Work environment features

Ability to concentrated individual work Quiet rooms for working alone or in pairsDividers (between desks / areas)Space between work-settingsNoise level

Favourable conditions for spontaneous social interaction Atriums and communal areasFavourable conditions for undisturbed meetings and group work

Meeting rooms (small)Meeting rooms (large)

Ergonomic comfort and enough space for office attributes DeskChairArchive storagePersonal storageAbility to personalise my workstation

Favourable conditions for side by side work and to invade for a chat

People walking past your deskVariety of different types of workspace

Short distance to colleagues and easy to find Accessibility of colleaguesGood lighting and daylight entry Natural light

Office lightingPersonal influence of air quality and temperature Temperature control

Air quality

• Feature = part of workspace

Workplace activities, features and facilities

Taxonomy of facilities (Batenburg and Van der Voordt,

2008)

Work environment facilities

Reception Reception areasPostal service Mail and post-room servicesOpening hours building Hospitality servicesCanteen Restauran/canteenCoffee/tea machines Tea, coffee and other refreshment facilities

Cleaning General cleanlinessClean and tidy General tidinessSecurity and surveillance SecurityBooking confidential rooms

Desk/room booking systemsReservation of project roomsPresentation resources Audio-visual equipmentICT Computing equipment

Telephone equipmentPrinting/copying/scanning equipmentRemote access to work files or network

In-office network connectivityGuest/visitor network access

Good spots for taking a break Informal work areas/break out zonesLeisure facilities on site or nearby

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• Facility = service on a more general level (office as whole)

Results

• Importance workplace activities• 4 major components:

− facility dependent work activities

− concentration based activities

− interaction (e.g. business confidential discussions, conferences and hosting visitors)

− collaboration (e.g. collaborating, creative thinking and learning from others).

• Interaction + collaboration in accordance with knowledge management literature (Kahn, 1996)

• Paradox between communication and concentration

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Results

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• overall communication more important than concentration/facility dependent

Results

• Importance workplace features + facilities• 7 components:

− ICT + place independence (e.g. different types of areas) combination features + facilities

− Building services (e.g. restaurant, mail, cleanliness)− 3 design features

− Climate (e.g. light, noise, air)− Personalization + privacy (e.g. storage, dividers)− Meeting areas

− Office equipment facilities (e.g. printing, phone) − Furniture (desk/chair)

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Results

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Results

• Importance work environment factors for specific activities• Support with ICT + place independence important for all

activities, not much difference between countries• Climate also important for all activities (except France)• Building services only important for UK: for all activities

value this a lot• Dutch + UK employees personalisation important for all

activities (Swedish for most activities) considered as certain brand/representation

• Germans/French less personalisation/privacy + interaction > collaboration hierarchy in culture

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Conclusion and recommendations

• Clear differences between countries no one-size-fits-all concept if supporting employees goal• implementation NewWoW not always successful + increasingly

opposed by employees

• Previous: satisfaction current work environment or among designers this study insight in user needs

• Recommendations • Non-European countries (ICT dev’t, individualization different; more

extreme scores dimensions Hofstede)• Equal amounts of respondents per country • Influence of organization culture on modern work environment preferences

• Help CREM increasing employee satisfaction + productivity

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Discussion

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