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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