Archived: Workplace Design & Employee Engagement

Work has changed in how, where and when it is done. Advances in technology, shifting employee expectations, changing customer and employee demographics, and mobile work are a few factors affecting workplace needs. As a result, across the globe, workplaces are evolving toward a destination spot that supports different modes of work, styles of work, and degrees of mobility providing choice to employees. Gensler has found that employees with choice in the work environment rank higher on innovation, job performance, job satisfaction, and workplace satisfaction (Targus,2017).We know in order to be successful with building a modern work environment we need to better understand how our employees currently work, how they may want to work differently, and what tools and resources they need to be successful in a modern work environment.  For these reasons, across the state, we are adopting innovative ways to modernize physical environments by engaging our employees in the planning of spaces so that the workplace aligns with the work.  

The state has roughly 11 million square feet of office real-estate that houses around 47,000 employees. Annual the Office of Financial Management approves 40-50 new facility projects. Over the last two years a dozen agencies have experimented and piloted modern work environment facility projects. Today, with policy in place and guidance available all new requests for facilities from agencies are incorporating, at a minimum, employee engagement by administering work pattern surveys. Many agencies are using focus groups, design charrettes and leadership visioning sessions as accompanying elements to the survey to better design a workplace that reflects the culture of the organization. Larger agencies with real-estate footprints greater than 50,000 square feet are developing administration polices setting expectations for employee engagement during the planning process. This is a monumental change for the state and will take time but progress is underway and it is exciting.  

Office of Financial Management, the Workplace Strategy Council, and state agencies are working together on the following statewide improvement strategies:

• Continuous leadership engagement
• Ongoing education and marketing
• Engaging a community of practice of Human Resources, Facility Management, and Information Technology experts
• Ongoing coordinating with Correctional Industries  
• Implementing the State Space Use Policy and Guidelines
• Developing tools and training for agencies

Leaders and staff within each agency are also continually working to identify, implement and assess internal strategies to improve the overall work environment.

Executive Order 16-07: Building a Modern Work Environment

OFM’s Modern Work Environment page