Have you ever thought about how your office space affects the way you work? The topic is a hot one these days. Global companies like Google, Facebook and Samsung are spending big bucks to create unique workspaces that encourage collaboration (and ultimately greater success) for the company. One example is Facebook’s new headquarters in Menlo Park, CA. It’s the largest open-office workspace in the world – a 430,000 square-foot building that sits on 22 acres and is home to 2,800 employees. In September, Samsung moved into their new open-office U.S. headquarters, which took two years – and $300 million – to build.
The premise behind these new, open-plan workspaces is that they foster more personal interactions between employees, which drives collaboration – lots of it. And an article about workspaces in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) says more evidence is emerging to support the idea that these type of workspaces are effective at improving company performance.
Fewer Coffee Machines = More Company Sales?
HBR shares one success story that is pretty convincing. Telenor, a Norwegian telecomm company, was an early adopter of the open-plan workspace. To encourage more interaction between employees, they invested several hundred thousand dollars to remove several coffee stations (they had about one machine for every six employees). They then installed a handful of much larger coffee stations – just one station for every 120 employees. They also built a spacious cafeteria to replace a smaller one that employees rarely used. In the quarter following the changes, the company’s sales grew by 20% – over $200 million. Some food for thought!
Do What’s Best for Your Company
Sure, your company may not have millions of dollars like Facebook to invest in new office space. But lots of smaller-size companies are finding other creative ways to establish a work environment that encourages creativity and collaboration and matches the company culture. One great example of this is A.R. Mazzotta. This summer, we opened a new office in Watertown, CT. We didn’t just settle on any office space based on price or convenience – our team searched long and hard for the perfect location that was just the right fit for our organization in many ways. Our historically renovated office is a great match for us, with old-world charm that perfectly complements our Middletown office. We know that our careful selection of our new workspace will bring us more success down the road.
Has your company recently upgraded workspace to reflect the latest trends or your company culture? If so, share the details in the Comments section.