Building the case for space: Are EX goals your new North Star?

[Stuart]

Interested to share ideas and encourage a conversation looking at on ways organisations are reframing their workplace north star to enhance focus on empathetic factors including employee experience (EX). 

Have you transformed your mindset from 'build it and they will come' to a more people-centric mantra of 'build it so they come' ?

In a world where many knowledge workers can get work done anywhere, the purpose and allure of our workplace destinations has never been more important.  Put simply, our places of work need to be 'commuteworthy' in order for employers to earn the commute of their workers.  

But how to capture visibility and actionable insights into our employee experiences other than questionnaires and surveys ? .. should your business case set out experience drivers and goals ? .... what new amenities or freedoms have you introduced to improve workplace experiences ?  ... are your spaces capable of constantly evolving ? ... does your workplace strategy enchance or hinder employee productivity ?  ... is your workplace designed to improve employee wellbeing and mental health ? ... which of your design decisions bolsters a sense of belonging ?  .. how are you activating your spaces differently to cope with hybrid work patterns ?  ... are you building the office of the future or piloting future workplace solutions ? ... what have been the biggest lessons  ? .... is it always better to motivate rather than mandate employees to work ? .. could a reframing of workplace practices and principles around EX help you turn workplaces into a strategic advantage ? 

All contributions and ideas welcome!

[Anthony]

Stuart - 

I believe design thinking's empathetic approach to understanding and designing for the user experience makes it is an essential innovation tool for anyone seeking to re-shape traditional working environments or enhance employee experience.

Have copied a few interesting posts / articles links below -

2023 Trends: A People-First Design Approach To The Workplace

Empathy at Work: Designing Tomorrow's Workplace

Designing Empathetic Workplaces Can Be a Key Differentiator

IDEO’s Design Kit highlighting design thinking methods

A couple of related topics to research  are -  Neuroarchitecture and Purposeful Design.

As Albert Einstein said, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” 

Will follow and look forward to reading other contributions on this topic!